Holidays got off to a miserable start last night and this morning for some passengers who complained of being stuck in stairwells for two hours.
The passengers said they have been left in the sweltering heat due to lengthy delays with planes and buses from the gate, they have said.
A group of 40 people were stuck sweating in a stairwell for two hours in 24C heat while they waited for their bus to arrive, they have claimed.
EasyJet passenger Debbie Shipley was scheduled to depart from Gatwick at 5:55am, but had not left the stairs two hours after that.
She tweeted: "I would like to know if it’s ok to lock 40 people in a stairwell? We’re still here after we were meant to go at 5.55am.
"What I would like to know is Gatwick's health and safety procedures for locking 40 odd people in a stairwell."
Gatwick Airport has been much less severely affected by waits, cancellations and delays this summer compared to other major travel hubs.
A recent study placed it in fifth place in a list of 24 major airports for shortest average delay time, with Gatwick flights held back by an average of just over five minutes.
Despite the impressive record, Gatwick is not completely immune from the chaos.
Passengers at the West London airport have reported a shortage of hand sanitiser this morning as well as long waits to get to their plane.
Michael Crotty said: "20 hand sanitiser dispensers upstairs and downstairs in the south terminal. Not one has anything in them."
Another issue some passengers faced was a long wait for their luggage to be taken off the planes for collection.
"Still waiting a hour and no luggage!!! No working vending machines or facilities... Just an embarrassing mess. It took two hours from landing to get our bags," Twitter user JC said.
The prospect of shaky service at Gatwick this summer won't be welcomed by travellers, who've generally been able to rely on it to provide relatively delay-free travel.
Like other major UK airports, it is likely to be impacted by more cancellations that have been predicted by travel bosses.
This week Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said that more flights would be grounded from the travel hub this summer, after more than 60 were cancelled this summer alone.
"We will review the schedule changes that airlines have submitted in response to the government's requirement to minimise disruption for passengers this summer and will ask them to take further action if necessary," he said.
Heathrow will not be the only airport impacted, with easyJet and BA suggesting that they may find it difficult to keep to their schedules, despite having already cancelled thousands of flights.
To add to the prospect of a cancelled holiday, plane ticket prices are creeping up all the time.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, has said that rising oil prices in part caused by the war in Ukraine would lead ticket costs to jump up.
He also warned that flight cancellations would push up demand for seats on other planes, inflating prices.
A Gatwick spokesperson said: “We apologise to passengers who may have had to wait longer than usual to be coached to/from aircraft last night.
"Unfortunately this was caused by a combined shortage of both ground handlers and coach drivers, due to staff sickness.”
