Luton Airport

Luton Airport is considered the seventh largest airport in the United Kingdom, and the fourth of the six airports in London in terms of traffic after Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

Luton Airport, like Stansted Airport, has only one runway (Heathrow and Gatwick have both 2) and in 2017 the number of passengers in transit increased, reaching almost 16 million. The airport has a single terminal and is used mainly by low-cost airlines (easyJet, Wizzair, Ryanair, TUI, etc.) that operate routes to European destinations. Despite this, the airport also hosts a limited number of both chartered and scheduled flights to destinations in North Africa and Asia.

HISTORY: Inagurated in 1938, it was used as a military base during the Second World War from which the Royal Air Force and the USAF aircrafts took off. In the mid-1960s, Luton Airport began to carry out private flights and, shortly after, the first charter flights.

LOCATION AND CONNECTIONS: Luton Airport is located in the county of Bedfordshire, about 48 km from the center of London, and just over 2 km from the city of Luton. The airport is connected to the British capital via rail or the M1 motorway. Although the railway link is very fast (around 25 minutes) passengers should consider that the train station is a 10-minute bus ride away from the terminal. The shuttle between the station and the Terminal runs approximately every 10 minutes. There is also a bus connection between Luton and Stansted Airports that takes about 75 minutes which also stops en route in Hatfield. Alternatively, the journey can be done by train, changing at least twice. The same transport company which offers the bus connection between Luton and Stansted airports, also offers services from Luton to Heathrow (minimum duration of 45 minutes) and from Luton to Gatwick (minimum duration of 120 minutes). All inter-airport services in London have intermediate stops en route.

WI-FI: The Luton Airport Authority offers all passengers 4 hours of free Wi-Fi. To use it, the user must follow a simple registration process. This registration process is only required once so that already registered users are automatically recognized. The only requirement is to have a device enabled for wi-fi connections. The provider is "Virgin WI-FI". When selecting the wi-fi network, the user must select 'Luton Airport WIFI' and follow instructions. If you want to navigate for longer have a faster connection, you can upgrade your connection for £3/hour, buying these additional services through PayPal or any credit / debit card.

SECURITY CONTROLS: All passengers must undergo security checks after the check-in process and before entering the boarding area. During periods of busy traffic or saturation, the passport control and X-ray scanning baggage process can cause significant delays and waiting times. The latter can be avoided by paying a surcharge for an extra service called "Priority Lane", costing from £ 3 to £ 5, depending on how the reservation is made (either online or offline). The "Priority Lane" service can be booked through the Luton Airport official website at www.london-luton.co.uk. Most airplanes flying to / from Luton allow passengers to carry a single piece of cabin baggage plus a bag containing all purchases made within the duty free area of the airport. This policy, as well as the size of the carry-on baggage, may differ from one airline to another so we suggest consulting with your carrier (for example, Ryanair establishes a 10 kg weight limit and 55 cm x 40cm x 20cm measurements for hand luggage). It is important to remember that passengers departing from British airports can only carry a limited amount of liquids (up to a maximum of 10, 100 ml containers) in their carry-on luggage, whether this is drinks, perfumes, cosmetics and so on. This restriction also includes gels and pastes. Containers with liquids must be transported separately, inside a transparent air-tight, sealed bag, with a maximum size of 20cm x 20cm. The only exceptions allowed are; medication (if accompanied by relative prescription), antiallergic foods (only the absolutely necessary amount for the trip), baby milk (0-36 months) or liquids bought in the duty-free area after passing through the security controls.

FLIGHTS DURATION:
Luton -Madrid: 3h 30mins
Luton-Barcelona: 3h 15mins
Luton-Ibiza: 3h 30 mins
Luton-Palma de Mallorca: 3h 25mins
Luton-Rome: 2h 35mins
Luton-Turin: 1h 50mins
Luton-Venice: 2h 05mins
Luton-Milan: 2h 05mins
Luton-Berlin: 1h 50 mins
Luton-Wien: 2h 25mins
Luton-Nice 2h 5mins