Gatwick travellers walk 1.2 miles to board flights

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Anyone who has flown from Gatwick's North Terminal, knows that it often takes a good 15 minutes to walk to your departure gate.

Now, a study carried out by Direct Line travel insurance, has found that the walk is every bit as long as it feels because Gatwick has the longest walk out of all of Britain's busiest airports, based on the distance from the terminal entrance to the furthest departure gate.

The Telegraph reports that passengers at Gatwick can expect to walk up to 1.2 miles to reach their gate. Although Heathrow is the UK's largest airport, passengers have a much shorter walk of 0.76 miles.

The distance at Manchester and Stanstead is 0.57 and 0.48 miles respectively.

Direct Line say that Gatwick comes in fifth place worldwide, beaten only by Beijing Capital airport, Atlanta, Zurich and Frankfurt.

Tom Bishop, head of travel insurance at Direct Line, said: "Holidaymakers travelling from Gatwick may not realise they could face a journey of more than a mile to reach a departure gate. We would advise them to plan ahead and allow plenty of time to reach their flight.

"This is particularly important during the next few weeks as all of the major airports in the UK are likely to be very busy due to the peak summer holiday season."

So don't spend too long stocking up on duty free unless you fancy running a mile to get to your plane.

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