On this page (4 sections)
Where to wait
There are two proper places to collect a passenger, and neither is the forecourt. The first is to park in short stay parking, a four-minute covered walk from arrivals, and meet your passenger inside or at the car. The second is the dedicated express pick-up bays, which sit inside the short stay car parks for exactly this purpose: Car Park 6, Level 4 at the North Terminal and Car Park 3, ground floor at the South Terminal.
The express bays come with two rules worth knowing before you arrive. You must stay with the vehicle, because an unattended car may be issued a parking charge notice, and the bays are for collecting only, not for dropping off. Park on the side your passenger lands at, the North Terminal for easyJet, Emirates and most long-haul leisure flights, the South Terminal for British Airways and the low-cost names, since the two terminals sit on opposite sides of the airfield.
What pick-up costs
This is where pick-up quietly differs from drop-off. Collecting a passenger is charged at the standard short stay roll-up rates, not the Gatwick drop-off charge. In practice that means £8 for up to 30 minutes in the short stay car parks or the express bays, on the same tariff as any short stay visit, so a quick collection costs the same as a quick errand at the airport. There is no separate waiting fee bolted on top.
The forecourt is a different system and a poor fit for a pick-up. You can technically use it to collect someone who is already standing outside with their bags, but it charges the £10 drop-off rate for up to 10 minutes and caps at 30, and arrivals almost never appear the moment you pull in. Sitting on the forecourt while a passenger clears immigration and baggage is how a collection turns expensive. The express bays and the free long stay window below both avoid that.
The free two-hour wait
The official free waiting area at Gatwick is the long stay car park. The first two hours are free at both terminals, with a free shuttle bus running to the door every 10 to 12 minutes, so you can wait out a delayed landing without paying anything. Drive in, take a ticket at the barrier, and either wait with the car or ride the bus to arrivals to meet your passenger, then drive out within the two hours at no cost.
It is the plan that suits an uncertain arrival time best, because it removes the pressure of a running meter. The trade is a short bus ride and a little walking, roughly 20 minutes on the round trip, which is a fair price for parking free while a flight lands late. For a collection you are confident is on time, the express bays are quicker; for anything that might slip, long stay is the calmer and cheaper choice.
Timing it around the flight
The single thing that makes a Gatwick pick-up smooth is not driving in too early. A passenger has to clear the aircraft, passport control and baggage reclaim before they reach the arrivals concourse, which can take 30 to 45 minutes after the plane lands, longer at busy times or for a long-haul arrival with full immigration queues. Watch the live arrivals board for the landing, then give it that buffer before you leave the free waiting area or pull into a bay.
If you find yourself on the wrong side of the airport, the free shuttle between terminals links North and South in about two minutes on foot, though agreeing the terminal before your passenger lands saves the bother. For the full set of car parks and how collection fits the wider picture, Gatwick's parking options compares every product, and the drop-off half of the forecourt story sits on its own page.