stut

So, to give you an idea... LTN is a bit of a building site at the moment, and the arrivals building is a temporary structure. After you get through baggage claim, you snake through a handful of passages to get outside. Just before you reach the exit, there's a couple of ticket machines for the trains. You can buy or collect a train ticket here (if you book online via www.thameslinkrailway.com, you can split the tickets and collect just using your credit card), and it's useful do so, as the shuttle bus to the station is not free. Make sure you select the origin as being "Luton Airport" and not "Luton Airport Parkway".

To find the shuttle bus, turn right as you come out and fight your way past the smokers. It's separate from the other buses, and very busy. Usually a purple, articulated bus, occasionally a smaller red ex-London bus. There's a queueing system and they check your ticket (or sell you one) before you board. They're pretty frequent, and the journey's supposed to be 5 minutes, although this depends on whether they've sorted out allowing buses to exit the bus station without queuing for the car park/dropoff exit yet. This shouldn't be an issue on a Tuesday lunchtime, which is pretty quiet at LTN.

Once at Luton Airport Parkway station, you'll go up in the lift to a bridge (unless you want to carry your luggage on the escalator, although there are barriers to discourage you from doing so), then down another to the platform - the direct trains to the airport usually go from platform 1, although some go from platform 3. The lifts on platform 1 do break annoyingly often. The direct trains to Gatwick will have either "Three Bridges" or "Brighton" as their destination and go at xx:07, xx:21, xx:37 and xx:51. The Brighton trains (07/37) are slightly faster, taking 1h26 instead of 1h40.

(If the steps are likely to be an issue, there is a workaround by not using the airport shuttle bus - and hence not buying the shuttle-inclusive ticket - and using the local bus services A or 100 (towards Luton, *not* Stevenage), get off at the Hampton by Hilton at the back of Parkway Station. This will give you access directly to platform 1.)

If you'd like to stop in London for lunch, you could do a lot worse than finding one of the many places in or around St Pancras. In which case, you are perfectly entitled to break your journey - all of the above trains stop at St Pancras, as do the non-stop trains at xx:32. There are also many good options near Farringdon and Blackfriars, where the through trains also stop.

CaptainMiles

@stut and @rcspeirs, you guys know the drill, and I am pretty sure I will follow your advise and take the train. I am not worried about the lifts or lack thereof, because we won't have luggage. Can I buy the East Croydon-Gatwick tickets right there from the train ticket machines at Luton Airport?

rcspeirs

It's much easier to reserve the train tickets (Luton airport to east Croydon as ticket 1 then East Croydon to Gatwick as ticket 2) on the Web then collect them from the ticket machine in the airport terminal. Some machines permit you to buy tickets from other stations, but some do not. Buying over Web then collecting at airport ensures you'll get the correct tickets, and not have to stress whether the machine can issue the second ticket. The Web buying process may ask you which time train you intend to use but that's just a lazy and ill informed programmer who apparently doesn't understand commuter rail, there are no reservations on this service and tickets are not restricted to an individual train.
Remember first ticket origin should be "Luton airport" and not "Luton airport parkway" to ensure its value for shuttle bus between terminal and railway station.

stut

Failing that, you can always buy the second portion from the counter at the Parkway station. There's rarely a queue there.

I'll have a look next time I'm up at the terminal (I work on the airport site).

rcspeirs

For the benefit of anyone reopening this thread in a few months, there will be significant timetable changes to the Thameslink services during 2018 and 2019, so do check for latest information and don't rely on old posts.
Currently all northbound services from Gatwick carrying the Thameslink brand go to Bedford. In future some will go to Cambridge or Peterborough. Sometime during 2018 (officially from May timetable change but might happen sooner) the airport services will revert to the route via London Bridge.

stut

Yes, although note that it was announced this week that the full timetable has been postponed to May 2019.

Should you likely be affected, the draft timetables are here:

https://www.transformingrail.com/download-timetables

@CaptainMiles - this is a general discussion - don't worry about it! It may affect the minutes past the hour your trains go if you're travelling after May2018.

stut

Completely forgot about this until today, when I was up at LTN terminal collecting some train tickets. The machines (at least the older ones currently in use - they're in the middle of commissioning some new ones) do allow you select any departure point. There was also a railway employee there to help people out who may be struggling with the Byzantine intricacies of the UK rail ticketing system. And the habit of the ticket machines of hiding a vital ticket behind the flap in the dispensing tray.

rcspeirs

A draft of the Crossrail / Elizabeth Line tube map had been published. Note that it initially operates as three distinct sections. Through trains from Abbey Wood to Heathrow / Reading don't start until December 2019.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4592/...8f70e623_o.jpg

CaptainMiles

I waited until the fare increase, and as I am trying to buy today the prices are £20.00 and £4.60 respectively.

BUT... I see that the East Croydon to Gatwick segment is only £3.10 if paid by contactless or Oyster. I have contactless. Is there any way to take advantage of this £1.50 savings without actually getting off the train at East Croydon? And is there no contactless discount for the Luton to East Croydon segment, operated by the same Thameslink?

CaptainMiles

This contactless thing is maddening.

St Pancras to Gatwick is £10.70, no contactless savings available (on the website anyway)

but....
St Pancras to East Croydon contactless is £3.40
East Croydon to Gatwick contactless is £3.10
Total £6.50

Can it be true that by breaking the fare at East Croydon one can save £4.20 (a 40% savings)? But it requires stepping off the train to tap out and tap back in, right? Maddening. As Obelix would put it so well: « Ils sont fous ces Bretons »

rcspeirs

The fare combinations possible on the Gatwick to London routes are worthy of a doctoral thesis. The saving you've found is genuine but the only way to take advantage of the saving is to get off the train at East Croydon, touch out of the barriers and then touch back in again.

KT550

Just to add a bit of info, in case you aren't familiar with East Croydon station.
The Oyster card readers are at the station entrance/exit, so one needs to follow the station exit signs. If going from Luton/London travelling in the front of the train will give the shortest walking time as the exit is at the south end of the platforms.
It will take 2 or 3 minutes so probably means you will not get the same train onwards to Gatwick. From East Croydon to LGW you will be able to use any train though, so won't be restricted to waiting for the next Thameslink.

Globaliser

This is part of the point, though, isn't it? It means that many people will end up paying the premium fare for the premium journey even though there is in theory a cheaper option.

I'm thinking of airport trips for which there is no cheaper option of this kind. Sydney, for example, where the train goes to Central, Green Square, Mascot, Domestic Airport, International Airport and Wolli Creek in that order. The fares from Circular Quay are:-

Mwenenzi

[ off topic LON airports]

For Sydney, Australia the 2 airports stations and part of the line were privately built. But financially failed. The "airport access fee" is an attempt to get the $$ back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_Link,_Sydney
You can get to the SYD airport cheaper by a combination of train and no. 400 bus. Or even walk from Mascot (T2 T3 domestic) or Wolli Creek (T1 international)

[on topic LON airports]

ASUDan130

For the Gatwick Express train it makes you pick a specific train time? Do you have to be on that train if you are running early or late though?