Major changes to Southern railway and Gatwick Express services from 10pm on 24 December to 4am on 4 January 2016

A major programme of improvement work by Network Rail in south London this Christmas means that Southern and Gatwick Express services will be disrupted over the holiday period.
The project at Purley, which replaces a major railway junction, will sever the main line meaning major changes to trains to Gatwick Airport from London, and Coastal services to London from 10pm on Christmas Eve until 4am on Monday 4 January. As a result, during this period there will be no trains between South Croydon and Redhill, and the Gatwick Express service will be suspended.
For details of your options, please visit our Christmas 2015 page.

Only bus services are available! Be aware that projects overrun, and 4 am on 4.1.2016 is NOT guaranteed!

Generally I avoid the Gatwick Express & just take the next available train that will possibly arrive before the Gatwick Express for 1/3 price. The Gatwick Express uses the same rail tracks as the normal train so can't go much faster & overtake the other trains.

I agree, Gatwick Express is a waste of money, especially if Victoria Station Terminus is out of your way... and during this holiday it won't be operating anyway, as a train.

Hopefully someone has ordered more buses for this route...

I really don't understand why they keep doing this - scheduling major works when they know more people are going to be travelling. Is this some sort of "put people off using our services" idea or what?

If this effects you, suggest you check out coaches with

nationalexpess.com

one time I booked easybus.com, but it turned out it was using the nationalexpress service

There is a taxi service at Gatwick and also a cab office in the terminal that you can check prices.

From my London home would use my local mini-cab office to get to Gatwick, that have dropped their prices in recent times due to lower oil price.

I suspect that "more people are going to be travelling" might not be true. Of course it's probably the busiest time of year for Gatwick, but for the rest of the commuter rail traffic that goes through Purley (and that's all the coast services from Hastings in the east to Portsmouth in the west) it's probably its quietest time.