Luton Airport Parkway is not Luton Airport. It is a railway station 2.3 kilometres away, and getting between the two costs £4.90 on a separate ticket unless you knew to buy a through fare.
That is the whole reason this journey confuses people. The train is advertised from £10. The actual minimum, bought the obvious way, is £14.90. Meanwhile the coach is £9.50, picks up at the terminal door, and needs no shuttle at all.
National Express says so itself, in its own marketing: it sells against the train on exactly this point, noting it picks up at the terminal door “unlike the train, which requires a shuttle to Luton Airport Parkway first”. When a competitor tells you the truth about a rival, it is usually worth listening.
The two routes, side by side
| Train | Coach | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Luton Airport Express | National Express |
| From | £10, plus £4.90 DART | £9.50 |
| Fastest | 32 minutes to St Pancras | 35 minutes to central London |
| Frequency | Every 30 minutes, 33 a day | Up to 60 a day |
| Overnight | Thinner | Around the clock, from 00:10 |
| Shuttle needed | Yes, the DART | No, terminal door |
| Where it lands | St Pancras only | Up to 9 London stops |
On every measure except raw speed to St Pancras, the coach wins at Luton. That is the opposite of the answer at Gatwick and Stansted, where the train is usually the right call, and it is why copying the advice from one airport to another goes wrong.
The Luton DART, which is the thing nobody explains
The DART, which stands for Direct Air-Rail Transit, opened in March 2023 and replaced the old shuttle bus. It is a fully automated, electrically powered people mover covering the 2.3 kilometres between Luton Airport Parkway station and the terminal.
It takes under four minutes and it runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Frequencies are published: every 5 minutes at peak (06:00 to 09:30 and 14:00 to 18:00), every 8 minutes off peak, and every 15 minutes super off peak between 22:00 and 04:00.
A separate adult single is £4.90. You can avoid buying one by booking a through ticket that combines the train and the DART in a single fare, which is what the airport recommends and what almost nobody arriving on a budget airline at one in the morning has done.
It is step free. There are lifts and escalators between the train platform and the DART terminal, which makes the rail route genuinely workable with heavy luggage despite the change.
The train, in detail
Luton Airport Express runs every 30 minutes, up to 33 trains a day, from £10 one way to London St Pancras International. Door to door, terminal to St Pancras, the fastest is 32 minutes including the DART.
Thameslink and East Midlands Railway also serve Luton Airport Parkway and reach St Pancras, generally slower and sometimes cheaper, with more stops. All of them require the DART.
St Pancras is the strength and the weakness. It is superb if you are going to King’s Cross, the Eurostar, or anywhere on the Northern, Victoria, Piccadilly, Circle, Metropolitan or Hammersmith and City lines. It is a poor landing point if you are staying in west or south London, where you will now pay a second fare to cross the city.
The coach, in detail
National Express runs from £9.50 one way, including a £1.50 booking fee they waive if you are logged into an account, with up to 60 daily services, around the clock, starting as early as 00:10. The fastest advertised journey is 35 minutes to central London, or 40 minutes to Golders Green.
The stops are the real argument. Up to nine across London: Golders Green, Finchley Road, Finchley Road and Frognal, St John’s Wood, Baker Street, Marble Arch, Paddington, Victoria Coach Station, King’s Cross St Pancras, Liverpool Street and Stratford appear on its network. If you are staying anywhere near one of those, the coach takes you closer than the train does and you never change.
Luggage is generous and specified: one large suitcase, or two medium cases, plus one soft hand luggage item per passenger, with a guaranteed seat on every ticket. There is also a small discount for signing up to their account before booking.
Landing after midnight
Luton is a budget airline airport and a lot of its arrivals are late. This is where the two routes separate completely.
The DART runs all night, every 15 minutes between 22:00 and 04:00, so the rail route technically works at any hour. What thins out is the train at the other end of it.
The coach runs around the clock and starts as early as 00:10, from the terminal door, with no shuttle. For a 1am arrival with a suitcase, that is the straightforward answer.
A taxi is the third option and it is the one people underestimate. Luton is in Bedfordshire, roughly thirty miles north of central London, and the fare reflects the distance rather than the airport.
If somebody is collecting you
Luton has the most expensive drop off charge of any London airport. Our guide to airport drop off charges puts the four side by side, from £7 at Heathrow to £27 at Luton, and explains why none of them lets you simply pay at the barrier on the way out.
On a £27 drop off charge, two coach tickets at £9.50 each are cheaper than being driven to the door.
What to know
Luton Airport Parkway is 2.3km from the terminal. The DART connects them in under four minutes and costs £4.90 as a separate single.
Buy a through ticket if you are taking the train, so the DART is inside the fare rather than a surprise at the barrier.
The coach is cheaper, more frequent and needs no shuttle. From £9.50, up to 60 a day, around the clock, picking up at the terminal door.
The train is faster to St Pancras and only to St Pancras. From £10 plus the DART, 32 minutes at best, every 30 minutes.
Everything here was taken from London Luton Airport, Luton Airport Express and National Express’s own published pages, rechecked on 2 October 2026. Fares are the advertised minimums and rise close to departure. Confirm before you travel.
Where to go next
The six London airports puts all of them side by side, including which are genuinely in London and which are a county away.
Stansted to London and Gatwick to London are the same problem at the other budget airports, and the answers are different at each: at both of those the train usually wins, which is the opposite of Luton. The Heathrow Express covers the fastest and most expensive of the lot.
Airport drop off charges has the £27 Luton figure in context, and what the tube costs covers the fare once you are in the city.
Questions we get asked
What is the cheapest way to get from Luton to London?
The coach. National Express runs from 9.50 pounds one way with up to 60 services a day. The train is advertised from 10 pounds but that is to Luton Airport Parkway, and you still need the Luton DART between the station and the terminal, which is 4.90 as a separate adult single. So the realistic train minimum is 14.90 against 7 for the coach, unless you buy a combined through ticket.
How do you get from Luton Airport to London?
Two main ways. By train, take the Luton DART from the terminal to Luton Airport Parkway, which takes under four minutes, then a train to London St Pancras International, fastest 32 minutes door to door. Or by National Express coach directly from the terminal door with no shuttle, fastest 35 minutes to central London and up to nine stops across the city. The coach is cheaper and more frequent; the train is faster to St Pancras.
What is the Luton DART and do you have to pay for it?
It is the automated rail shuttle connecting London Luton Airport terminal to Luton Airport Parkway railway station, a distance of 2.3km, opened in March 2023 to replace the shuttle bus. It takes under four minutes and runs 24 hours a day. Yes, you pay: a separate adult single is 4.90 pounds, though you can avoid buying one by booking a through ticket that combines your train fare and the DART. It is step free, with lifts and escalators between the DART and the train platform.
Is Luton Airport actually in London?
No. Luton is in Bedfordshire, roughly thirty miles north of central London, which is further out than Gatwick, Stansted or Heathrow feel in practice. It is one of the six airports Transport for London counts as serving the city, but the distance is real and it is why a cheap flight into Luton gives some of the saving back in the transfer and the rest in time.
How late do transfers from Luton Airport run?
The Luton DART runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at every 15 minutes between 22:00 and 04:00, so the rail route works at any hour even though train frequency thins overnight. National Express coaches run around the clock with services starting as early as 00:10, direct from the terminal door. For a late arrival with luggage, the coach is usually the simpler answer.
Which London stations does the Luton coach serve?
Up to nine stops across London, which is the coach's main advantage over the train. Golders Green, Finchley Road, St John's Wood, Baker Street, Marble Arch, Paddington, Victoria Coach Station, King's Cross St Pancras, Liverpool Street and Stratford all appear on the network. The train goes to St Pancras and nowhere else, so if you are staying in west or south London the coach saves you a second fare across the city.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 154 in the guide.
Last checked 2 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
