Luton Airport Express, via the Luton DARTorThameslink to Gatwick, via the Luton DART?

train · East Midlands Railway and Luton DARTLuton Airport Express, via the Luton DART

From

Luton DART from the terminal to Luton Airport Parkway, four minutes, then a platform change

To

St Pancras International, non-stop, and nowhere else

Luggage

Up to three items each — two large and one small — in the vestibules and overhead racks, on the operator's rule.

Journey

32–40 min

The first departure is not stated here: the operator says the first train from Luton Airport Parkway leaves "just after 05:30" on weekdays without printing the minute. The last trains it does print: 23:25 Monday to Friday, 22:28 Saturday, 21:58 Sunday.

On Sundays there is no Express before 12:28 from the airport (12:14 from St Pancras). A Sunday-morning landing is a Thameslink or a coach.

It saves a few minutes over Thameslink, not the fare: 22 minutes non-stop against 24 to 45, for the same £12.30 on a contactless card. It only goes to St Pancras; for Farringdon, the City or London Bridge the stopping train is direct and the Express is not.

The operator's Advance ticket "from £10" must be used on the train booked; miss it and you buy again. Railcards apply; GroupSave does not — East Midlands Railway is not in the scheme.

The 32 minutes is the operator's own figure and includes the DART and the change at Parkway; the train alone is 21 to 22 minutes.

Luton Airport Express, via the Luton DART: price for every party size

Thameslink · Thameslink and Luton DARTThameslink to Gatwick, via the Luton DART

From

Luton DART from the terminal to Luton Airport Parkway, four minutes; the trains leave from the main-line platforms

To

Gatwick Airport station, beside the South Terminal, on one direct train

Luggage

Racks by the doors and overhead; the DART is built for suitcases.

Journey

82–110 min

The £4.90 DART is easy to pay twice or forget once. Touching in at Parkway does not cover it, and a ticket to "Luton" does not either; only a ticket to "Luton Airport" has it inside.

The train is the same one that crosses central London, stopping at St Pancras, Blackfriars and London Bridge, so it takes 78 minutes by day and 87 to 110 at night, plus the DART.

Trains run through the night on a reduced service, hourly through the small hours on a weekday night, and the DART runs around the clock. On a night or a Sunday with engineering work the ride can need a bus: check the day you travel.

The coach is cheaper, from £21.50 against £24.00 here, but takes about an hour longer.

Thameslink to Gatwick, via the Luton DART: price for every party size