Dropping Someone at Luton Can Cost £27. At Heathrow It Is £7.

Dropping a passenger at the terminal door costs £7 at Heathrow, a minimum of £10 at Gatwick, and up to £27 at Luton. At Stansted the airport publishes the £100 fine for not paying and does not publish the charge itself.

What every one of them shares is the trap. Not one of the four lets you pay at the airport. There is no machine, no barrier, no attendant. You drive in, cameras read your plate, and you have until midnight the following day to pay online or by telephone. Miss it and the charge becomes £80 to £100.

Here is what each airport charges, what each one fines, and the free option that all four of them bury.

What it costs, airport by airport

Heathrow: £7, every time a vehicle enters a drop-off area. It is a flat fee rather than a time allowance, and the airport is explicit that entering a second time means paying a second time, and every time after that. So circling back because you missed the ramp costs £14.

Gatwick: a minimum of £10 for the designated drop-off zones at the North and South Terminals. The word doing the work there is minimum. Gatwick does not publish what the maximum is.

Luton: £9 for twelve minutes, then £1 for every minute after that, with a maximum stay of thirty minutes. That is the only per minute meter of the four, and it means a slow goodbye at Luton has a published ceiling of £27.

Stansted: not stated. Its Pick Up and Drop Off page describes the barrierless Express Set Down area, explains how to pay, gives a telephone number and sets out the penalty in two separate answers. The price appears nowhere on it. The only route to the figure is the payment portal, after you have already been.

The fines are ten times the charges

Heathrow: £80, reduced to £40 if paid within 14 days. Against a £7 charge that is eleven times over.

Stansted: £100, reduced to £60 within 14 days.

Luton: a £95 enforcement charge.

Gatwick: a Parking Charge Notice, amount not published. Gatwick names neither its maximum charge nor its penalty. The notices are administered by a company called Times24 on the airport’s behalf, and appeals go to them rather than to the airport.

So two of the four publish the fine and not the fee, or the fee and not the fine. Only Heathrow and Luton print both numbers in the place a driver would look.

You cannot pay at the airport

This is the part that catches people, and all four are consistent about it.

Heathrow states there is no option to pay at an airport ticket machine or in the terminal drop-off zones. Online or by phone on 0330 008 5600.

Stansted removed the barriers deliberately. Its Express Set Down uses number plate recognition so cars do not stop, and it confirms there are no payment barriers or machines, and that cash and cheques are not accepted. Online, or 03450 175046, by midnight the day after.

Luton is cashless and barrier free, and takes payment online only, up to midnight the following day. No telephone line, no machine, no cash.

Gatwick takes payment online, by phone or through an AutoPay account.

All four use the same deadline: midnight on the day after you visit. That is the single most useful sentence on this page. If you drop someone off on a Friday evening, you have until midnight on Saturday, and on Sunday morning it is an £80 problem.

Every one of them offers AutoPay, and it is free. Registering a card once removes the entire risk, which is why it is worth doing before a trip rather than after a fine.

All four have a free option

None of them leads with this, and at three of the four it is a short bus ride rather than a walk.

Heathrow: free drop-off at the Park & Ride car parks, previously known as Long Stay, with a free bus transfer to the terminal.

Gatwick: free for two hours in the Long Stay car parks, with a free shuttle bus to the terminals.

Stansted: free drop-off at the Mid Stay car park, with a free shuttle bus described as a few minutes from the terminal.

Luton: free for up to two hours in the Long Stay car park, a ten minute shuttle from Bus Bay B, running every twenty minutes.

The trade is roughly ten to fifteen minutes of bus against £7 to £27. For a family with time in hand that is an easy decision, and for anyone running late it is not a decision at all.

Blue Badge holders

Heathrow gives Blue Badge holders the first two hours free in the Park & Ride car parks. The method matters: use the call point on entry and give your Blue Badge number and registration, then use the call point again on exit and give the registration. It is valid for UK and EEA badges only.

Luton gives Blue Badge holders and passengers with booked assistance thirty minutes free, with reduced rates for longer stays up to 24 hours.

Gatwick and Stansted both publish Blue Badge exemptions on their drop-off pages.

Waiting and picking up are different things

Heathrow permits no pick-ups and no waiting in the drop-off areas at all, and states that vehicles must not be left unattended and that unattended vehicles may be towed. The drop-off zone is for dropping off, and collecting an arriving passenger from it is not allowed whatever you have paid.

Stansted is the opposite, offering pick up as well as drop off, including in the Green and Blue Short Stay car parks, which it suggests if you want to go into the terminal to meet someone.

If you are collecting rather than delivering, check the airport’s pick-up page rather than assuming the drop-off rules apply.

What we could not check

London City Airport’s website returned an error every time it was requested, on this check as on the last one, so nothing is claimed here about its charges. Southend is not covered for the same reason of not having a confirmed figure rather than an assumed one.

What to know

Midnight the following day, at all four. Set a reminder in the car before you drive off.

You cannot pay at the airport. There is no machine at any of them. Do not go looking for one.

Set up AutoPay before the trip. It is free at every one of these airports and it turns a £95 risk into nothing.

Heathrow charges per entry, not per visit. Going round again costs another £7.

Luton runs a meter. £9 buys twelve minutes and every minute after that is £1, up to a thirty minute maximum.

Use the long stay car park if you have fifteen minutes. Free at all four, with a free bus, and two hours of it at Gatwick and Luton.

Everything here was taken from each airport’s own published pages and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Where an airport does not publish a figure, that is stated rather than estimated. These charges have risen repeatedly in recent years, so confirm before you travel.

Where to go next

London’s six airports covers which to fly into and how far out each one actually sits, which is the decision this page follows.

Heathrow Express, Gatwick to London and Stansted to London cover arriving without a car at all, which avoids every charge on this page.

The Congestion Charge is the other £18 a day that driving in London costs, with a £180 penalty underneath it and the same trap of a payment deadline you have to remember.

The London Travelcard and what the tube costs cover the alternative once you are here, and Santander Cycles and the Night Tube cover the rest of moving about.

The travel tips cover the other practical arrangements of an arrival.

Luton to London puts that £27 Luton drop off charge in context: two National Express coach tickets from the terminal cost £14, which is less than being driven to the door.

Questions we get asked

How much is the Heathrow drop off charge?

£7 every time a vehicle enters a terminal drop-off area, at all four terminals. It is charged per entry rather than per visit, so entering a second time costs another £7. Payment must be made online or by phone on 0330 008 5600 by midnight the day after, because there is no machine at the airport. Non-payment results in an £80 Parking Charge, reduced to £40 if paid within 14 days.

How much is the Gatwick drop off charge?

A minimum of £10 to use the designated drop-off zones at the North and South Terminals, paid by midnight the day after you use them. Gatwick does not publish a maximum charge, and does not publish the amount of the Parking Charge Notice issued for non-payment either. The notices are administered by Times24 on the airport’s behalf, and appeals go to them.

Can you drop off for free at London airports?

Yes, at all four of the main ones, using a long stay car park and a free shuttle bus. Heathrow offers free drop-off at its Park & Ride car parks, formerly Long Stay. Gatwick gives two hours free in the Long Stay car parks. Stansted offers free drop-off at the Mid Stay car park. Luton gives two hours free in its Long Stay car park, a ten minute bus ride from Bus Bay B every twenty minutes.

What happens if you do not pay the airport drop off charge?

You receive a charge many times larger than the fee. Heathrow issues an £80 Parking Charge, halved to £40 within 14 days. Stansted issues £100, reduced to £60 within 14 days. Luton applies a £95 enforcement charge. Gatwick issues a Parking Charge Notice without publishing the amount. All four give you until midnight on the day after your visit to pay.

Can you pay the drop off charge at the airport?

No, at none of them. Heathrow states plainly that there is no option to pay at a ticket machine or in the drop-off zones. Stansted removed its barriers entirely and uses number plate recognition, accepting no cash or cheques. Luton is cashless and barrier free. Every one of them expects payment online, by telephone or through a free AutoPay account registered in advance.

Which London airport is cheapest to drop off at?

Heathrow, at a flat £7 per entry, among the airports that publish a price. Gatwick starts at £10 with no published maximum. Luton is £9 for twelve minutes and £1 a minute after that, to a £27 ceiling at thirty minutes, making it the most expensive if you linger. Stansted does not publish its drop-off charge on its own Pick Up and Drop Off page at all.