London Luton (LTN)

Paying by contactless

• Adults can pay for the Luton DART and the Luton Airport Express by touching a contactless bank card, or a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the reader at each set of ticket barriers.
• Each person travelling on contactless needs a separate card or phone, but a phone or watch counts as a different card from the bank card linked to it, even on the same account, so one parent can pay for two people, one touching in with the card and the other with the phone.
• Use the same card/phone every time, and keep your phone charged, or you risk overpaying.
• Hold only one card or phone to the reader, and keep other cards away from it, or the reader may charge the wrong one.
• Many cards from abroad work, but your bank may charge an overseas transaction fee.
• Contactless only charges adult fares, so see Children’s tickets below for what children pay.

Children’s tickets

• Under-5s travel free with a paying adult and children aged 5 to 15 pay about half the adult fare, for example about £12 for an Anytime single (one way) ticket from Luton Airport to London with the DART included, while a child’s DART-only ticket costs £2.45.
• Buy each child aged 5 to 15 a child ticket from “Luton Airport” to London at the Onward Travel Centre or a train ticket machine, which covers both the DART and the train.
• EMR’s Family Saver covers up to two adults and four children on the Luton Airport Express from £20, DART included, but only for travel until 1 November 2026 and from 18 December 2026 to 3 January 2027.
• The Luton Airport Express doesn’t offer Thameslink’s Kids for £2, which lets up to four children aged 5 to 15 travel for £2 each off-peak with an adult.

Paying at the airport

• Adults paying by contactless are charged £4.90 for the DART and then £12.30 for the train from Luton Airport Parkway to St Pancras (£16.60 if you touch in between 6.30am and 9.30am on a weekday), about £17.20 in all, or £21.50 in the morning peak.
• By contactless, the DART and the train are two separate journeys, so at Luton Airport Parkway touch your card or phone on the reader at the DART’s barriers and then again at the train barriers, and Oyster cards don’t work at either station.
• After baggage reclaim, staff at the Onward Travel Centre in arrivals help you book train tickets.
• There are also train ticket machines near the arrivals exit, and the DART station in front of the terminal has machines run by Thameslink that take contactless cards and phones.
• The ticket office at Luton Airport Parkway, at the other end of the DART, is open from 6am to 12.30am on weekdays, 6.30am to midnight on Saturdays and 7.30am to midnight on Sundays.
• The Thameslink ticket machines in Luton Airport Parkway station, just past the DART’s exit barriers, take cards only.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• You can buy Luton Airport Express tickets in the EMR app, with no booking fee.
• An e-ticket from “Luton Airport” on your phone opens the DART barriers as well as the train barriers.
• Luton Airport Express Advance single (one way) tickets start at about £8 including the DART, and you can buy them from 12 weeks ahead until 5 minutes before the train leaves.
• Anytime and Off-Peak train tickets aren’t tied to one train, so if your flight is late you can take a later train on the date shown, and they still work until 4.29am the next morning if it’s delayed past midnight, and DART tickets until 3.30am.

Tickets to avoid

• Luton Airport Express Advance tickets and EMR’s Family Saver are valid only on the train you booked, and if you miss it you have to buy a new ticket, so if your flight might land late, buy your ticket when you arrive or pay by contactless.
• Luton Airport Express Off-Peak tickets aren’t valid on weekday trains that reach London before 10.03am.
• A ticket from “Luton Airport Parkway” or “Luton” doesn’t include the DART, which then costs £4.90 per adult, and DART-only tickets from the DART website can’t be refunded.
• A paper Anytime Day Single (one way) ticket from Luton Airport costs £24.10, more than paying by contactless even in the morning peak.
• Trainline usually adds a booking fee of 59p to £2.79 (none for same-day bookings in its app from the UK, and different fees for bookings from abroad).

Paying by contactless

• Adults can pay for the Luton DART and Thameslink trains by touching a contactless bank card, or a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the reader at each set of ticket barriers.
• Each person travelling on contactless needs a separate card or phone, but a phone or watch counts as a different card from the bank card linked to it, even on the same account, so one parent can pay for two people, one touching in with the card and the other with the phone.
• Use the same card/phone every time, and keep your phone charged, or you risk overpaying.
• Hold only one card or phone to the reader, and keep other cards away from it, or the reader may charge the wrong one.
• Many cards from abroad work, but your bank may charge an overseas transaction fee.
• Contactless only charges adult fares, so see Children’s tickets below for what children pay.

Children’s tickets

• Under-5s travel free with a paying adult and children aged 5 to 15 pay about half the adult fare, for example about £12 for an Anytime single (one way) ticket from Luton Airport to London with the DART included, while a child’s DART-only ticket costs £2.45.
• Buy each child aged 5 to 15 a child ticket from “Luton Airport” to London at the Onward Travel Centre or a train ticket machine, which covers both the DART and the train.
• Thameslink’s Kids for £2 lets up to four children aged 5 to 15 travel for £2 each off-peak from Luton Airport Parkway with an adult who has a paper or e-ticket, but not with an adult who pays by contactless.
• Buy the adult and Kids for £2 tickets together online or at a ticket machine, because once you have an adult ticket the children’s ones are sold only at a ticket office, and bought from “Luton Airport”, each child’s ticket costs £4.45, which is £2 plus £2.45 for the DART, and is valid only on Thameslink trains.

Paying at the airport

• Adults paying by contactless are charged £4.90 for the DART and then £12.30 for the train from Luton Airport Parkway to St Pancras (£16.60 if you touch in between 6.30am and 9.30am on a weekday), about £17.20 in all, or £21.50 in the morning peak.
• By contactless, the DART and the train are two separate journeys, so at Luton Airport Parkway touch your card or phone on the reader at the DART’s barriers and then again at the train barriers, and Oyster cards don’t work at either station.
• After baggage reclaim, staff at the Onward Travel Centre in arrivals help you book train tickets.
• There are also train ticket machines near the arrivals exit, and the DART station in front of the terminal has machines run by Thameslink that take contactless cards and phones.
• The ticket office at Luton Airport Parkway, at the other end of the DART, is open from 6am to 12.30am on weekdays, 6.30am to midnight on Saturdays and 7.30am to midnight on Sundays.
• The Thameslink ticket machines in Luton Airport Parkway station, just past the DART’s exit barriers, take cards only.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• You can buy Thameslink tickets in the Thameslink app, with no booking fee.
• An e-ticket from “Luton Airport” on your phone opens the DART barriers as well as the train barriers.
• Anytime and Off-Peak train tickets aren’t tied to one train, so if your flight is late you can take a later train on the date shown, and they still work until 4.29am the next morning if it’s delayed past midnight, and DART tickets until 3.30am.

Tickets to avoid

• Until 13 December 2026, Thameslink’s Advance tickets are valid only on the train you booked, and if you miss it you have to buy a new ticket, but from that date its Airport Advance tickets from Luton Airport, bought at least a day ahead, let you take a Thameslink train up to two hours after the one you booked.
• A ticket from “Luton Airport Parkway” or “Luton” doesn’t include the DART, which then costs £4.90 per adult, and DART-only tickets from the DART website can’t be refunded.
• A paper Anytime Day Single (one way) ticket from Luton Airport costs £24.10, more than paying by contactless even in the morning peak.
• Trainline usually adds a booking fee of 59p to £2.79 (none for same-day bookings in its app from the UK, and different fees for bookings from abroad).

Children’s tickets

• National Express takes 25% off Standard and Fully Flexible fares for children aged 3 to 15, and one child under 3 per adult travels free (book any others as children).

Paying at the airport

• After baggage reclaim, staff at the Onward Travel Centre in arrivals help you book coach tickets, and it’s also National Express’s ticket office, staffed from 7am to 11.30pm, with ticket machines that work 24 hours a day.
• National Express drivers sell tickets for cash only and may not have much change, so buy your coach ticket at the Onward Travel Centre, at a machine or online before you board.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• National Express sells coach tickets on its website and app, and sends you an e-ticket to show on your phone.
• A ticket costs from about £7 if you book about six weeks ahead, or £17 for a Fully Flexible ticket on the day.
• These prices include a £1.50 booking fee, which you don’t pay if you’re logged in to a National Express account.
• If four or more of you book a National Express coach from the airport together, its group offer takes 33% off each adult and child single (one way) ticket on the A1 and A2 routes.

Tickets to avoid

• National Express’s Standard tickets, the cheapest it offered on this route when we checked, can’t be refunded, and changing one costs £5 plus any difference in fare and works only before the booked coach leaves, so if your flight might be late, add Change & Go when you book (£5 per adult and £2.50 per child each way), which lets you board any coach up to 12 hours before or after the one you booked, if there’s room.

Children’s tickets

• One child under 3 per paying adult travels free on the Green Line 757 if they sit on a lap rather than a seat, while children aged 3 to 15 and any other under-3s need a child ticket.
• On the Green Line 757 a child’s single (one way) ticket costs £10, and the Arriva Bus app’s Family 2 Trip ticket (£35) covers up to two adults and three children for two journeys, such as into London and back to the airport.

Paying at the airport

• Green Line 757 drivers sell single, return and one-week tickets for cash or by contactless card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• The Arriva Bus app sells Green Line 757 tickets, including an adult 2-trip ticket for £16 that covers your trip into London and back to the airport within 3 months, but apart from family tickets each ticket covers one person on one phone, and the phone must go online at least every 8 hours to keep it valid.
• Green Line tickets aren’t tied to any coach, so if your flight is late you can take a later one.

Paying at the airport

• Black cabs at the taxi rank just past Bus Bay A run on the meter, and they take all major credit cards.
• Tipping is up to you, but 10% is standard.
• Luton Borough Council’s table of fares for the black cabs it licenses has a separate meter rate for trips from the airport, which is higher from 11pm to 6am, on bank holidays and for more than four passengers, and 50% higher over Christmas and New Year.
• On the meter, a driver can’t charge more than the council’s rates, but can charge less.
• Drivers can add to the meter fare any charge for the airport’s Pick Up Zone or taxi waiting area, and any Congestion Charge for driving into central London, which Transport for London (TfL) waives only for taxis licensed in London.
• For a trip into London you and the driver can instead agree a fixed fare before you set off, which can be more than the meter would show, so ask for an estimate of the meter fare before you agree to one.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• You don’t need to book a black cab, which you take from the rank.

Things to avoid

• Don’t get into a minicab you haven’t booked, even one that has just dropped someone off, because that’s illegal and the minicab is uninsured for any journey that hasn’t been booked ahead.

Paying at the airport

• Bolt shows the final price in the app before you book, and so does Freenow for its Ride cars, while Freenow’s black cabs run on the meter after showing an estimate.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• Uber lets you reserve a Luton pick-up up to 90 days ahead and cancel free up to an hour before the pick-up time, or at any time before a driver accepts the trip.
• Many pre-booked minicabs meet you in the paid Pick Up Zone, or at a meeting place you agree, and are likely to add the zone’s charge (£9 for 12 minutes) to your fare.

Things to avoid

• Don’t get into a minicab you haven’t booked, even one that has just dropped someone off, because that’s illegal and the minicab is uninsured for any journey that hasn’t been booked ahead.