Luton Airport Express - How Much Does it Really Cost?

Luton Airport advertises their trains from London costs as little as "a tenner" - but what are you realistically going to pay?

Warning

Unlike the Stansted Express or the Heathrow Express - cheap Luton Airport Express tickets are only valid for a specific train.  So if your flight is late, you will be charged for a new ticket or an upgrade fee.  I have personally been charged for missing a train from Luton Airport Parkway station by 30 seconds - so this definitely does happen!

Alternatives

Whilst Luton Airport Express does all the advertising - don't forget that Thameslink also serves Luton Airport Parkway station.  And whilst Thameslink trains usually stop more often, a through train from south London may be more convenient, especially with luggage.  And if you're travelling from west or east London, the connection at West Hampstead (most Luton Airport Express trains don't stop there) is incredibly quick and may also be more convenient.

Today

If you want to travel today instead of "a tenner" you will be paying a whopping £24.10 or if you've got a suitable railcard you could get that down to £16.05

Tomorrow and Beyond ...

Booking a ticket for travel tomorrow is a mixed bag - some trains cost the full £24.10 whilst there are also trains for £10.70 and the odd one that's even under a tenner!  Just remember that these tickets are only valid on the specific train - if you miss the train, you're in trouble.

Saturdays Good - Sundays Bad

There seems to be a pattern for the next few weeks of at least one cheap train every half hour, but plenty of trains are still expensive even when booking weeks in advance.  Saturdays generally have more cheap trains, but weirdly Sundays seem to have fewer cheap trains.

Don't book 85 days in Advance

Whilst most journeys are cheaper if you book well in advance - Luton Airport Express has an 85 day penalty system!  If you're too eager you'll only be able to book full fare tickets.  Leave it until 84 days in advance, and some trains are indeed "under a tenner".

Flexiblity

If you're travelling to the airport, you will probably be happy booking a specific train.  Or if you're prepared to spend plenty of time hanging out in the airport drinking expensive coffee, you may decide to book a cheap train from the airport giving plenty of time for your flight landing late, or your bags taking a long time to show up on the carousel.

However what about a ticket that gives you some flexibility?

Anytime Day Single

On most UK rail routes you can buy an Off Peak Day Single, or a Super Off Peak Day Single but Luton Airport Parkway and Luton Airport will only sell you an Anytime Day Single.  Even if you book months in advance, you cannot purchase an off peak flexible ticket.

Super Off Peak weekend fares - Not Available

If you go one stop beyond Luton Airport Parkway, suddenly Super Off Peak fares are available - and especially at weekends they are very attractive.  And of course these prices are further reduced if you have an appropriate railcard.

Conclusions

Travelling to the airport it's worth booking a cheap specific train in advance - but you only need to do this about a week in advance to get a decent fare.  And by then you will know about any engineering works or planned strikes.

Travelling from the airport booking a cheap specific train probably isn't worth it.  So you might as well just book an Anytime fare on your phone after you've actually landed whilst your plane is taxiing around Bedfordshire!

After being charged for missing my pre booked train, I no longer buy train tickets in advance when flying into Luton Airport.

Heathrow Express - How Much Does it Really Cost?

Heathrow Express is the train service from Heathrow T5 via T123 non stop to London Paddington.  If you're coming from T4 you need to change at T123.  With a journey time of around 15 minutes from T123 to Paddington it has historically been the most expensive train in Britain.

But with competition from Crossrail / Elizabeth Line, HEX is trying to broaden its appeal with £10 fares for 30 day advance bookings.

However if you've not got your travel plans nailed down 30 days in advance - how much will it really cost?

If you're travelling today or in the next three days you will be charged a whopping £25

But that drops to a marginally less eye watering £22 from day 4 to day 20

From day 21 to day 29 you will be paying a still unreasonable £18.50 for the 15 minute journey

And then the 46% price drop kicks in from 29 days to 30 days before departure.

Is this the biggest cliff edge in British train pricing?

In comparison Stansted Express takes 90 days to get down to their lowest price - using six different price points, with their biggest drop happening at the start of the slide.

Unlike the Stansted Express, HEX does recognise most Railcards (apart from the popular Network Railcard).

Other Transport Options

The Elizabeth Line costs £12.80 to Paddington station or £13.90 to other Zone1 stations.

Liz Line trains continue through Paddington into central London - avoiding a long walk in the station if you're changing from HEX to a tube or train and continuing your journey.

Whilst the whole of the Elizabeth Line accepts contactless payments - if you have a Railcard and are only using the Liz Line you are better off buying a paper or digital ticket.  Remembering that with the Network Railcard a minimum fare applies on weekdays.

And of course the Piccadilly Line is even cheaper with a standard fare of £5.80 from Heathrow to Zone 1 - with a saving of up to £2.20 if you're prepared to do the Hatton Cross hack!

Conclusion

If your travel is nailed down over 30 days in advance, and Paddington is convenient for you, then maybe the £10 Heathrow Express fare will be attractive.

But for everybody else, HEX is unlikely to be a competitive option - despite what their ticket touts dominating Heathrow arrivals would have you believe!

London to Dublin - two Sail Rail hacks!

SailRail tickets combine your rail journey to a port, and your foot passenger journey on a ferry.  Despite the rise in cheap flights across the Irish Sea, they are still popular on the Holyhead to Dublin route - especially at peak times or last minute, when air fares are extortionate!

The advantage of SailRail tickets are they are fixed price.  So for example London to Dublin costs either £53.40 for an "Advance" ticket, or once they sell out it's £60.10 for the misnamed "Standby" fare.  Tickets from elsewhere in both GB and Ireland are on a sliding scale, as per this old map - all ferries now serve Dublin port!

Most days there's a 9am train from London Euston which gives you 80 minutes to see the sights of Holyhead, before the huge Irish Ferries ship Ulysses pulls out of port and delivers you into Dublin around 5.30pm - where you stroll across the gangway back onto dry land.

If the journey that you want is showing as Sold Out / Unavailable - try booking Bangor (Gwynedd) to Dublin departing at 12:23 - the last stop before Holyhead.  If this shows as available, you know that it's the train that's causing the problem rather than the ferry that's sold out.

Since the pandemic, Avanti require seat reservations for SailRail tickets - even though they always have a couple of carriages that don't have any seat reservations!

When I've encountered this problem I've tried multiple rail reservation websites, and none could overcome the Avanti block.

Avanti Hack

However, if you go to a mainline station with a ticket office, they should be able to sell you a ticket for the date you want, without a specific train.  Since most stations only sell a handful of SailRail tickets it may take some time for them to work it out. And make sure they select correctly between Irish Ferries (Dublin Ferryport - DFP) or Stena (Dublin Port Stena - DPS).

Then it's just a case of getting past the Avanti staff at the gateline and onto the train with your open ticket!

Sunday Hack

The 9am direct train to Holyhead unfortunately doesn't operate on a Sunday (or if Avanti amend the timetable) - so you'll need to find a connecting route.  If you want to get the 2.10pm Irish Ferries ship, rail reservation websites say you need to depart London Euston just after 8am.

However if you select Dublin Port Stena (for the later ferry) you can book connecting trains which should get you into Holyhead a tantalising half hour before the 2.10pm Irish Ferries departure.

With the last transfer bus to the ferry departing the terminal 20 minutes before the ferry leaves, if the trains are on time you can make the 2.10pm ferry - even though you can't actually book it.

Once you arrive at Holyhead station you need to go to the rail ticket desk (not the Irish Ferries or Stena ticket desk) and ask them to swap your ticket from Stena to Irish Ferries.  As you enter the station/terminal from the platforms, the rail ticket window is on your right facing the ferry ticket desks.

When I did this recently the rail ticket staff member was rather confused and actually issued me a new ticket the same as the old ticket. But thankfully the Irish Ferries checkin staff let it go, and issued me a Ulysses boarding pass anyway.  I guess they appreciated my effort!

So if you value an extra 40 minutes in bed and are willing to take the risk that you may end up on the Stena ferry if your train is late into Holyhead - then give this Sunday Hack a bash!