Luton vs. Stansted: “London’s” Two Mega-Giant Low-Cost Hubs

I haven’t done much long-haul flying this year yet (I’m still catching up on writing trip reports from last year), though one thing I did do was fly out of both Luton and Stansted for the first time. I’ve flown into both airports a couple of times now, though while I’ve now flown Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Norwegian, TUI, and a few other European low-cost carriers, they have primarily flown in and out of Gatwick.

This year I had a chance to fly into both Luton and Stansted a couple of times, and they’re both airports I don’t mind. Yes, neither of the airports have an ideal commute, and I even had to fly out of Luton at 5:50 AM in the morning (I stayed at the Holiday Inn the night prior, as I was on a business trip). However, I find both Luton and Stansted to be efficient, pleasant airports, with a decent amount of seating and reasonable facilities.

I thought I’d write a quick comparison post. I’m due to fly out of Southend in just under a month, and plan to write a post detailing my thoughts on all of London’s airports, and write a guide or two as to which airport to fly out of.

Luton and Stansted: I don’t get the hate

Londoners and tourists alike make lots of jokes about Luton and Stansted. Neither of them are based in what most people would geographically define as London, and they’re frequented by low-cost airlines, which contributes quite a bit to their reputation. However, I don’t mind flying out of either airport, and for most Londoners not living in the city center, I don’t consider either airport much harder to get to than Heathrow or City Airport. In fact, unless you live in East London, you’ll find City Airport surprisingly difficult to get to, given how big London is – I’d almost say that Heathrow is more commutable unless you specifically live on the DLR.

Both Luton and Stansted are easy to get to from major train stations in London. Admittedly this isn’t cheap – you’ll need to pay for a ~£15 train ticket to get to either airport (£20-25 without a railcard), whereas you’d be able to get to Heathrow or City Airport for £3-6 (if you take the Tube), and Gatwick is a £10 train ride with a railcard (£14 without). However, most of the time you’re saving far more than this to fly out of Luton or Stansted, and the actual experience of getting to the airport isn’t bad, even during peak times.

The price of getting to Luton or Stansted is also much more in line with what you’d expect at other major cities – for example, a one-way fare on the Arlanda Express in Stockholm costs a whopping 340 SEK (£26.44/HK$278), despite only being 18 minutes long.

When I fantasised about jetting off on business trips as a 16-year-old, 4 AM at Luton wasn’t what I was envisioning

Once you get to the airport, I find both airports to be operationally quite easily to navigate (once again contrary to my expectations). I’m sure that there are peak travel times when both airports are difficult to travel out of, though I didn’t find them harder to fly out of than Heathrow or City Airport during peak times.

Getting to the Airport: Luton vs. Stansted

Luton used to be an absolute pain to get to, and required taking a bus from Luton Airport Parkway train station to the airport terminal. Fortunately that changed in 2023 when the Luton DART was opened, which is a 4-7 minute train that gets you from the train station to the terminal in less than four minutes. While the DART isn’t free, book your train straight to Luton Airport (not Luton Airport Parkway) to have the DART included in your fare.

The Luton DART changes the game in terms of how easy it is to get to the airport

While EMR is my least favourite train operator in the National Rail network, the EMR train to get from St. Pancras to Luton isn’t terrible. The train itself doesn’t feature power ports and is quite old, though it’s only a half-hour ride and not a big deal for many.

Stansted is even easier – the Stansted Express is convenient, comfortable, extremely high-capacity, features power ports, and runs every 15 minutes round the clock. Unlike Luton, Stansted Airport station is also adjacent to the airport, with no further connection (or even much walking) needed. You can also take a bus from Liverpool Street or Stratford station. However, the train is 52 minutes long (the bus is around 45 minutes from Stratford station), so the overall commute time is a bit longer – it’s also a lot more expensive.

Here are the exact prices with and without a railcard, assuming you’re booking around a couple of days in advance (there are no advance purchase tickets):

With a railcard

• The Stansted Express costs £16.65 (HK$175) one-way, or £25.30 (HK$266) non-same day round trip
• The Luton Airport Express train + DART costs £6.40 total (HK$67) one-way, or £12.40 (HK$130) non-same day round trip

Without a railcard

• The Stansted Express costs £25 (HK$263) one-way, or £38 (HK$399) non-same day round trip
• The Luton Airport Express train DART costs £9.70 total (HK$102) one-way, or £14.35 (HK$151) non-same day round trip

Getting to Stansted by train is generally significantly more expensive than getting to Luton

Airlines: Luton vs. Stansted

In terms of hubs, Luton is home to easyJet and Wizz Air, whereas Stansted is home to Ryanair, though they do fly out of each other’s bases. There are countless destinations in Europe that you can get to from either airport, though Stansted has more flights to emerging smaller airports (as Ryanair specialises in them – e.g. Oradea, Romania), whereas Luton has slightly more of a Mediterranean and Eastern European network (e.g. Podgorica in Montenegro, Skopje in North Macedonia, Pristina in Kosovo, Tbilisi in Georgia, etc., mainly driven by Wizz Air). Obviously you’ll be able to fly a range of different low-cost airlines into either airport (or other airlines altogether, such as Emirates into Stansted).

I consider easyJet to be a cut above Ryanair and Wizz Air, and more similar to TUI and Jet2, due to its less completely no-frills seat design (with seat pockets) and more substantial onboard menu. I felt that the Ryanair and Wizz Air felt more no-frills to me, though your experience may differ.

Wizz Air drives Luton’s connections to Eastern European destinations

Airport Facilities: Luton vs. Stansted

Neither Luton nor Stansted are heralded for their airport facilities, though both of these airports are quite large, and much more than just “sheds in the middle of nowhere”, as I’ve heard them been described before. Don’t get your expectations up too high, though I find the departures experience from both airports to be quite pleasant.

Luton seems to have gotten a bit of an uplift recently, and the main hall has a good variety of food outlets that are open more or less round the clock. It reminds me of Heathrow Terminal 3 – the area isn’t attractive by any means, though there’s a good range of shops and facilities.

Luton Airport Departures Hall

Stansted’s hall feels smaller and more compact, albeit the much higher ceilings (this was surprising to me initially). However, you’ll still be able to find a bite to eat before your flight.

Stansted Airport Departures Hall

Stansted has significantly more seating than Luton, though irritatingly lots of it is inaccessible unless you know which satellite terminal your flight is departing from. The new-ish Satellite 1 terminal (gates 1-19) has plenty of seating, though you can’t actually get there unless your flight is either departing from Satellite 1 or Satellite 2 (gates 29-39). Thankfully this is slated to change, as Stansted Airport introduces bi-directional walkways between all satellite terminals in the future.

The area by gates 90-93 has some good seating at Stansted Airport

Lounges: Luton vs. Stansted

The one area that feels massively under-resourced at both Luton Airport and Stansted Airport are lounges for credit card holders. The UK is one of the largest markets for credit cards offering lounge access outside the U.S., so as you’d expect for two low-cost airports with thousands of young professionals flying in and out for all sorts of reasons, don’t expect too much from their lounges.

Luton has two lounges, the No1 lounge and My Lounge. The No1 lounge was recently refurbished – it wasn’t open when I last visited, though it looked quite nice. I would suspect that both lounges can be quite crowded round the clock.

Luton Airport No1 Lounge

Meanwhile, Stansted’s Escape lounge is incredibly crowded, to the point where there’s always a wait, unless you pre-book far in advance (I had no luck pre-booking up to a month in advance, and only managed to get in after getting on a waiting list on the day, which was a Thursday afternoon during the off-season). Once you do get in, the lounge is uninspiring, and there’s a lack of power ports anywhere.

Stansted Airport Escape Lounge

So this is a slight win for Luton, but I’d say that the lounge situation is quite dismal overall (unless you’re flying Emirates, who opened their own lounge at Stansted Airport in September last year).

Emirates has their own lounge at Stansted Airport

Ease of Getting To Gates: Luton vs. Stansted

Both airports are airports where you’ll have to line up on the tarmac while you wait for the plane to be ready – this is a stark contrast to Gatwick, where even low-cost airline flights are hooked up to jetbridges.

I think I do have a slight preference when it comes to how easy it is to get to your gate. I’ve never walked too far to get to a gate at Luton Airport. The gates aren’t inspiring by any means, and it does start to feel a little bit like a shed, though I find the airport easy to navigate.

Luton Airport Gate Area

Meanwhile Stansted has three satellite areas where your plane could be departing. Two of the satellites require taking a train, and the most annoying thing is that you can’t take the train back to the main concourse – you need to flag down a staff member, who has to drive you back. This means that if you need to spend any extended time at Stansted Airport, you can’t just make your way to a satellite seating area, despite the fact that there’s probably plenty of seating there.

Stansted Airport Gate Areas (Satellite 1 and 3, respectively)

So I have a preference for Luton Airport, both because it’s easier to get to your gate, and also because there aren’t any one-way trains that you can’t backtrack on.

Arrivals: Luton vs. Stansted

I find that Luton queues are generally longer than Stansted’s – the non eGates line can take a while, especially since it’s set up to be quite short. However, neither airport compares to the worst of Heathrow Airport, where queues can reach up to 2.5-3 hours by dinnertime.

Heathrow Airport looks like this at 8 PM, whereas you’ll never get this at Luton or Stansted

Conclusion: Luton vs. Stansted Airport

London’s two low-cost airports are both a distance from the city itself, though I really don’t get the hate. They’re operationally just as efficient as any other airport in the city from my experience, and they’re not that hard to get to.

After writing this post, I’ve realised that I have a slight preference for Luton Airport. It’s quicker and cheaper to get to, there’s slightly more to do in the terminal, there’s slightly more lounge capacity, and it’s easier to get to the gates due to the airport being slightly smaller – arrivals can take longer, though. Both airports have fairly big expansion plans, though as things stand I do prefer Luton to Stansted Airport.

I can’t wait to cross off my final few London airports, so I can write a post with my full thoughts on them all.

Do you prefer Luton or Stansted Airport? What’s your favourite London airport to fly out of?