Luton DART and Luton Airport Parkway Updates

[Watershed]

Won’t it just be the same add on as there is now?

And given the shuttle bus won’t run, there’s not exactly any obvious alternatives, unless you really know your Luton bus network (and let’s be honest, most people don’t).

Given the nature of airports like Luton, I would be amazed if they didn't hike the price. Given the convenience factor (and lack of feasible alternatives) they could probably get away with £5 or even more.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given the nature of airports like Luton, I would be amazed if they didn't hike the price. Given the convenience factor (and lack of feasible alternatives) they could probably get away with £5 or even more.

A - Luton Airport - Houghton Regis

Arriva Beds and Bucks

bustimes.org

The stop is the "Hampton by Hilton" one. Or if easier (e.g. coming from the Bedford side) it can be taken from Luton station too.

Most people won't, though. The people mover is massively more convenient.

I suspect what they'd get away with is capped by the cost of a taxi, though. If they whacked it right up (£5 a head is £20 for a typical family, say) the Hackney taxi drivers would soon realise this and start running back and forth themselves with signs in their windows.

 

[Haywain]

The stop is the "Hampton by Hilton" one. Or if easier (e.g. coming from the Bedford side) it can be taken from Luton station too.

If anything, Parkway is easier from the Bedford direction if travelling on Thameslink as most trains use platform 1 so no footbridge to negotiate. From the London direction it would be easier to use Luton, if travelling with EMR, for the same reason.

 

[SAPhil]

It’s more to do with the nature of the U.K. airport business model. Luton was in many respects a pioneer - charge for drop off? We’ll so does Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted now.

Luton remains the only airport I've ever been charged for the plastic bags to put your toiletries in at departure!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Luton remains the only airport I've ever been charged for the plastic bags to put your toiletries in at departure!

To be fair, in the interests of not wasting single use plastic, I would be in support of such a charge.

 

[Watershed]

To be fair, in the interests of not wasting single use plastic, I would be in support of such a charge.

The bags don't last nearly as long as e.g. supermarket bags for life. As a relatively frequent traveller, I find myself having to replace the bags every 5-10 flights, simply through wear and tear.

Rather than charging more silly fees, perhaps we could do the sensible thing and drop the security theatre of separating out liquids...

 

[Bletchleyite]

The bags don't last nearly as long as e.g. supermarket bags for life. As a relatively frequent traveller, I find myself having to replace the bags every 5-10 flights, simply through wear and tear.

Rather than charging more silly fees, perhaps we could do the sensible thing and drop the security theatre of separating out liquids...

That's coming as the X-ray machines are upgraded.

 

[Watershed]

That's coming as the X-ray machines are upgraded.

Indeed, although airports seem extraordinarily slow and reluctant to do so - even though it has significant benefits for queue times and required staffing levels.

 

[jon0844]

Indeed, although airports seem extraordinarily slow and reluctant to do so - even though it has significant benefits for queue times and required staffing levels.

WH Smith are probably objecting as their whole business relies on the sale of overpriced water. I'm amazed they didn't stop the free water dispensers, although they're so slow that often people don't wait in line to use them.

(not being serious obviously, but I guess the new machines are expensive and there might even be a long time from ordering to delivery and installation, plus training costs etc).

 

[JaJaWa]

WH Smith are probably objecting as their whole business relies on the sale of overpriced water. I'm amazed they didn't stop the free water dispensers, although they're so slow that often people don't wait in line to use them.

(not being serious obviously, but I guess the new machines are expensive and there might even be a long time from ordering to delivery and installation, plus training costs etc).

There's still the liquid ml limit, you just don't have to place the liquids in a clear bag or remove them from your bag (going by the Asian airports)

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's still the liquid ml limit, you just don't have to place the liquids in a clear bag or remove them from your bag (going by the Asian airports)

The technology is also meant to remove the limit, because they can tell what the liquid is (or rather most importantly what it isn't).

 

[185143]

I went through an Australian airport, Perth I think, we did a few destinations on that trip, with a bottle of water when boarding a domestic flight.

I'd drank as much of it as I wanted, we got to the scanners and I asked where I should put the bottle. I was told "In your bag mate, it doesn't matter on a domestic."

That was in 2014!

 

[stuu]

Luton remains the only airport I've ever been charged for the plastic bags to put your toiletries in at departure!

They all (major London/south airports) did that for a while. Some stopped before others because they must have realised it was more hassle than it's worth

 

[185143]

I'm sure Manchester used to charge £1 for the bags.

 

[Mike395]

Manchester and Luton both went through a period of charging for the clear bags, both have now stopped.

Anyway, we’re drifting away from talking about the new rail-air connection now so let’s DART back on topic please

 

[WesternBiker]

I suspect what they'd get away with is capped by the cost of a taxi, though. If they whacked it right up (£5 a head is £20 for a typical family, say) the Hackney taxi drivers would soon realise this and start running back and forth themselves with signs in their windows.

I think people will just accept the charge, as you say. Those that care about the pennies will just cost it into the overall price of their journey - or walk.

To put the DART charge in context, parking is £35 per day in the long stay car park. I know there are parking packages available, but they're still pretty pricey over a week or more.

 

[Techniquest]

I think people will just accept the charge, as you say. Those that care about the pennies will just cost it into the overall price of their journey - or walk.

To put the DART charge in context, parking is £35 per day in the long stay car park. I know there are parking packages available, but they're still pretty pricey over a week or more.

£35 a day? Yikes! How far is the walk anyway? I remember it's mostly downhill from the airport to Parkway station from doing the X99 to Milton Keynes a few years ago, but personally I'd want to do the walk from Parkway once just to say I've done it. Good bit of pre-flight exercise

 

[Davester50]

Luton is the only UK airport I've never had to queue more than 5 minutes for passport control either (at least, not since e-gates were installed) and getting bags to the carousels seems very efficient too - I reckon once DART opens arriving passengers could easily be at Luton Airport Parkway (having collected hold bags too) within 30 minutes of the plane touching down.

Pre-Brexit and just after the e-Gates opened when the early Wizz flights piled in from the East, immigration queueing was pretty bad.
Couldn't get near the e-Gates because of the amount of passengers holding only ID cards blocking any way through.

 

[baz962]

It’s more to do with the nature of the U.K. airport business model. Luton was in many respects a pioneer - charge for drop off? We’ll so does Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted now.

Personally I think Luton is a great airport. I haven’t had a notable delay there for well over a decade of using it at least 4 times a year (except covid). It is certainly rather efficient - I gather the most efficient in the U.K. in terms of airport area per annual passenger (a curious metric, but one that I think is worthwhile).

disclaimer - I live under one of the departure flightpaths. It’s much less noisy now too that half the planes are neo - to the extent that I don’t notice it now.

One of the reasons that they introduced the drop off charge , wasn't necessarily to make money. They had free drop off in both mid term and long term car parks and introduced a charge on the drop off to encourage people not to just park there .

 

[bspahh]

£35 a day? Yikes! How far is the walk anyway? I remember it's mostly downhill from the airport to Parkway station from doing the X99 to Milton Keynes a few years ago, but personally I'd want to do the walk from Parkway once just to say I've done it. Good bit of pre-flight exercise

At Stansted, the cheapest parking for 8am-8pm on Thursday is £57.99.

 

[Techniquest]

At Stansted, the cheapest parking for 8am-8pm on Thursday is £57.99.

Wow that is outrageous!

 

[Ediswan]

Wow that is outrageous!

Those both look like "on the day" prices. Pre-booked will be considerably cheaper. Stansted are showing £59.99 for 8 days, but for October 2021 (according to the footnote): https://www.stanstedairport.com/parking/ You have to start the booking process to get an actual price.

 

[bspahh]

Those both look like "on the day" prices. Pre-booked will be considerably cheaper. Stansted are showing £59.99 for 8 days, but for October 2021 (according to the footnote): https://www.stanstedairport.com/parking/ You have to start the booking process to get an actual price.

From next Thursday, I only get prices for the short stay car parks if I wanted to return on the Thursday, Friday or Saturday. It quotes £97.99 for the mid-stay car park for Thursday-Sunday, but its £98.99 for the blue zone in the short stay car park, and I would pay a pound extra to avoid using a bus transfer.

It is cheaper to book the parking in advance, but they still won't quote for the mid stay car park for less than 3 days, and its still £54.99 to book 1 hour of parking in the short stay car park for next March!

I am usually travelling on expenses when I fly from Stansted, but practically, it means I don't park at Stansted - I'll either get the train there, or go by Eurostar.

 

[edwin_m]

I recently booked a week in the long stay car park at Luton, at 10 days notice, which cost about £70.

 

[jon0844]

I think people will just accept the charge, as you say. Those that care about the pennies will just cost it into the overall price of their journey - or walk.

I agree. People will accept it and it just becomes another charge on top of all the other little charges associated with low-cost air travel these days.

(I am sure people will still continue to compare flights versus the train as they ever did, and forget all these little details!!)

 

[All Line Rover]

I agree. People will accept it and it just becomes another charge on top of all the other little charges associated with low-cost air travel these days.

(I am sure people will still continue to compare flights versus the train as they ever did, and forget all these little details!!)

Such as?

I don't tend to find myself being lumbered with unexpected charges when flying.

I have also found the quality of some of the hot food served by Ryanair, such as their bacon baguette or thai green curry, to be better than anything I have been served by Avanti in first class. Should I be surprised or depressed? I have never experienced the catering being pulled because of "staff shortages" or "stock shortages", and the prices are lower than those charged in Avanti's on-board shop (which in respect of hot food, tends to be stocked with a singular dry bacon roll - not baguette - and, failing that, a cheeseburger).

I still prefer to travel to western Europe with Eurostar to take advantage of the superior luggage allowance, but I don't begrudge low-cost airlines' luggage restrictions. I don't expect to be able to take vast quantities of luggage on a plane because there is no room for every passenger to do so, and the traditional airlines tend to charge similar surcharges.

As regards budget airport parking charges, if these are high because the - enormous - car parks are consistently full, that indicates the existing charges are set appropriately, no? Perhaps a little too low, in fact?

My only real gripe is that these airports should provide secure bicycle storage.

 

[jon0844]

The cost of getting to an airport, often at stupid o'clock, because generally speaking those super-cheap flights are at times most people don't want to go; the cost to reserve a seat, check in a bag, even hand luggage on some flights, the elevated cost of a bottle of water airside and so on.

And the cost of parking is insane!

People seem to just say '£xx for a train to Y is crazy; I could fly to Z for less' and that was my, what I thought was obvious, point.

 

[All Line Rover]

The cost of getting to an airport, often at stupid o'clock, because generally speaking those super-cheap flights are at times most people don't want to go; the cost to reserve a seat, check in a bag, even hand luggage on some flights, the elevated cost of a bottle of water airside and so on.

And the cost of parking is insane!

People seem to just say '£xx for a train to Y is crazy; I could fly to Z for less' and that was my, what I thought was obvious, point.

Sure. I don't want to arrive into the outskirts of Milan at 2am either, so a £9.99 fare is irrelevant. But the "normal" fare of £30-£40 is still much better value than almost any domestic rail journey I can think of (some of LNR's fares excepted).

I'm not aware of any airlines that charge for bringing one item of hand luggage? I have not found water in airports and on plans to be any dearer than at rail stations and on trains. I have also found alcoholic drinks to be considerably cheaper; the prices of the "money-grabbing" Ryanair are lower than train buffets, lower also than the prices Avanti want to charge passengers in the lounge at Euston, when they have already purchased first class tickets!

Parking charges are equally insane at many rail stations. Particularly stations run by that train company whose name slips my mind. Starts with an A... £12/day to park in somewhere as horrible as e.g. Runcorn, regardless of stay length, might be cheaper than Stansted/Luton, but is still "insane" compared to the prices charged for medium term stays by most European airports, such as c. £1/day at airports in the south of France (France!).

 

[philthetube]

The bags don't last nearly as long as e.g. supermarket bags for life. As a relatively frequent traveller, I find myself having to replace the bags every 5-10 flights, simply through wear and tear.

Rather than charging more silly fees, perhaps we could do the sensible thing and drop the security theatre of separating out liquids...

Would you , (and everyone else) still get 5/10 trips out of every bag if they were free, if not the charge is a good thing.

 

[Watershed]

Would you , (and everyone else) still get 5/10 trips out of every bag if they were free, if not the charge is a good thing.

This is with the bags being free! I don't bother changing the bag unnecessarily as it's a hassle (I keep my set of travel toiletries in the bag even when I'm not travelling).