Contributed by Gatwick Taxi Transfer a TfL-licensed private hire operator running fixed-price Gatwick and Heathrow airport transfers daily.
Almost every guide to London’s airports covers the trains. Very few explain the taxi properly which is odd, because it is the option most people fall back on when the flight lands late, the group is four strong, or there are three suitcases between them.
Four different things, all called “a taxi”
The rank. Both airports have official ranks outside arrivals. At Heathrow these are black cabs on a meter. You do not need to book, you simply queue which is the advantage and the drawback. At peak times the queue is the wait you were trying to avoid.
A black cab hailed or ranked. Metered, TfL-licensed, and legally allowed to pick up without a booking. The meter is the point: it keeps running whether the wheels are turning or not, which on the M4 into Heathrow is a genuine cost, not a theoretical one.
A ride-hailing app. Convenient, but the price is set at the moment you request it. Land at 6am on a Bank Holiday Monday and you find out what surge pricing looks like with a full flight of people opening the same app.
A pre-booked airport taxi. A private hire vehicle, booked in advance which is not a preference but a legal requirement. Private hire vehicles cannot be hailed or take a fare from a rank. In exchange, the fare is agreed before you travel and does not move afterwards.
Meter versus fixed price
This is the decision that matters most, and it is really a question about who carries the traffic risk.
On a meter, you do. A Heathrow run of 14 to 16 miles into central London might take 40 minutes or 90, depending entirely on the M4 and the western M25. The meter does not care which and if you have just landed at 5pm on a Friday, you have picked the worst possible moment to be paying by the minute.
With a fare fixed at booking, the operator carries it. If the journey takes an hour longer than usual, that is their problem. For Gatwick the distances are longer 28 to 32 miles but the M23 moves better, so the gap between a good run and a bad one is narrower. That distance difference is why the two airports price so differently, and it is covered alongside the airline and terminal differences in this side-by-side comparison of Heathrow and Gatwick.
Neither is automatically cheaper. A short off-peak hop can be fine on a meter. A long journey at a bad hour rarely is.
The charges that appear at the kerb
Both airports charge vehicles to stop outside the terminal, and both raised their fees in early 2026 every UK airport’s drop-off charge is compared here if you are flying from elsewhere.
| Heathrow | Gatwick | |
| Drop-off charge | £7 | £10 |
| Time included | 10 minutes | 10 minutes |
| Penalty if unpaid | £80 (£40 within 14 days) | £100 (£60 within 14 days) |
Heathrow rose from £6 to £7 on 1 January 2026. Gatwick went from £7 to £10 on 6 January, a 43% increase in one step that the RAC recorded as the largest ever at a UK airport.
Airports charge for pickups too, and this is where the fare you were quoted and the fare you pay can part company. Ask before you book whether the quote includes the airport charge, parking, and any waiting time. Most fixed-price Gatwick and Heathrow airport transfers build all three in. A meter does not add them at the end.
Waiting time, and why it decides the price
The single biggest variable in an airport taxi is not the driving. It is what happens if your flight is late.
A pre-booked operator that tracks your flight moves the pickup automatically, and usually includes a window of free waiting from the actual landing time rather than the scheduled one. A driver who is not tracking your flight either leaves or starts charging. An app booked before you have cleared immigration will cancel on you.
Worth asking directly: how much free waiting is included, and does the clock start at the scheduled landing or the real one? The difference between those two answers is where most unexpected airport taxi bills come from.
How to tell a legitimate driver from a tout
Both airports have people approaching arriving passengers offering rides. This is illegal, and it is not a grey area.
A licensed private hire driver will have your name, your booking reference and a licence badge. They will not solicit business in the terminal, because they are not permitted to. If someone approaches you offering a taxi, walk away and go to the official rank or to your pre-booked driver at the agreed meeting point.
Check the vehicle registration against your booking before you get in. It takes five seconds and it is the only check that actually matters.
When a taxi is the wrong choice
It’s worth saying plainly, because a guide that recommends a taxi for every situation is not a guide.
One person travelling light to central London. Rail wins on cost at both airports, comfortably. The Piccadilly line from Heathrow and Southern services from Gatwick are cheaper again if you are not in a hurry.
Peak-hour arrivals into Heathrow with a rail option. A train that takes 30 minutes reliably beats a taxi that might take 90.
Where a taxi does win: three or more people splitting one fare, early morning or late night departures outside train times, heavy luggage, small children, reduced mobility, or a journey that is not to central London. Gatwick to Brighton, Heathrow to Reading, or anywhere in Surrey, Sussex or Kent is usually faster and cheaper by road than by rail with two changes.
The short version
Pre-book if your flight time is fixed, if there is more than one of you, or if you are arriving outside train hours. Take the train if you are alone, travelling light and heading into the centre.
And whichever you choose, ask what the quoted price actually includes before you commit. At £7 and £10 respectively, the curb outside the terminal is no longer free and the fare that looked cheapest at the booking stage is not always the one you end up paying.
