Press Release

Gatwick’s welcome hosts are welcomed back!


10 July 2006

For the third summer, travellers using BAA Gatwick will be given a brighter welcome by the now familiar Welcome Hosts. A new team of young people from local schools and colleges, sporting bright yellow tee-shirts, will be on hand to assist people through the airport.

The Welcome Hosts will act as mobile information teams in both the North and South Terminals, and on the forecourts helping airport users to find their check-in zone, onward travel connections and information and directions to all the airport’s facilities.

Following a series of training sessions and familiarisation visits, the Welcome Hosts started at Gatwick last Friday. They will be supported by airport terminal management staff.

“The Welcome Hosts have proved both invaluable and popular with our travellers over the last two years,” Sean Horkan, Operational Solutions Director for BAA Gatwick, said. “We are very pleased that they have now become a regular feature of our busy summers at Gatwick, on hand to help make our passengers’ journey through the airport as smooth as possible.”

As the busy summer season approaches, BAA Gatwick are preparing to handle millions of passengers for the great summer getaway. As part of the measures to reduce queuing, particularly at the entrance to security and the departure lounges, passengers are being asked to adhere to the internationally agreed limits on the size of hand baggage.

Hand baggage should measure no more than 56cm in length, 45cm in width and 25cm in depth.

Any bags exceeding these dimensions will not be accepted at security and passengers carrying them will be directed back to airline desks to check them in as hold baggage.

“We want to ensure that we keep people moving through the airport and we reduce the possibility of queues,” Sean Horkan explained. “To avoid the risk of being delayed by being asked to return to check-in, passengers should make sure that their hand baggage is not too big. It is important to check as early as possible if bags conform to the size limits to avoid the risk of being delayed and, possibly, missing your flight.”

To assist passengers further, measuring gauges and staff will be on hand to help by security.

ADVERTISEMENTS