It's an open secret that airports offer some of the worst exchange rates in the UK.
Airports regularly top our polls as the most expensive places in the country to buy currency; worse than supermarkets, the Post Office and even high street banks.
The reason is simple: it's very expensive to rent a kiosk in an airport so the companies who use them have to charge a premium to cover the added costs. Plus, they can charge what they like because... well you don't have much choice once you get there!
Fortunately, all is not lost. I've got a few hints and tips you can use to maximise your holiday money even if you have to buy it at the airport.
Don't buy currency at Gatwick Airport unless you have to
If you're not flying for another two or three working days, the best advice is to order your currency online and get it delivered to your door.
Online currency suppliers always have the best exchange rates, and most of them offer free insured home delivery if you order over £500. We compare the UK's biggest currency providers right here so you can see all of their exchange rates in one place before you buy.
If you're flying in the next 24 hours but still have time to pop into your nearest high street, your next best option is to find your nearest currency supplier and reserve your currency online for in-store collection. Supermarkets tend to offer better exchange rates than the Post Office - just make sure you order / reserve online first, don't just walk in off the street or you'll be given a worse exchange rate.
Reserve your currency online at Gatwick Airport
The currency service at Gatwick Airport is provided by ChangeGroup UK. If buy currency at a ChangeGroup kiosk in one of the departure lounges you'll get the extremely poor airport exchange rate advertised on the currency board at the kiosk.
However; you can reserve your currency online on the ChangeGroup website and collect it at the kiosk when you arrive.
The advantage of this is you'll get ChangeGroup's online exchange rate which is better than the rates they advertise at the kiosk. The only downside to this is you'll have to pay a £10 'branch collection' fee which covers the cost of manning the kiosk. Even so, for larger amounts this fee is still cheaper than a poor exchange rate.
How good are Gatwick Airport's online exchange rates?
A quick comparison of today's online exchange rates shows that Gatwick Airport / ChangeGroup have the worst exchange rates out of the 40 UK currency suppliers that we compare. In fact, for euros the rates at Gatwick Airport are 0.82% worse than the next-worse online rate provided by Manor FX, and a whopping 5.38% worst than the current best online euro rate provided by Travel FX.
Here's a snapshot of the most popular currencies against the best and worst rates available on our currency comparison pages.
| Currency | Gatwick Airport online rate | Best online rate | Worst online rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Euros | 1.1157 | 1.1707 | 1.1295 |
| US dollars | 1.1805 | 1.2365 | 1.1868 |
| Turkish lira | 16.761 | 19.0634 | 16.6922 |
| Croatian kuna | 7.8436 | 8.7073 | 8.3070 |
| Mexican pesos | 22.790 | 24.0369 | 22.7795 |
In summary, you should avoid buying your currency at Gatwick Airport unless you have no choice. In which case, make sure you reserve your currency on the ChangeGroup website before you arrive so you benefit from the better online exchange rate.