Originally Posted by
LTNman
Also no deal has yet been reached with the airport over the Dart link so a separate ticket could be needed for that part of the journey as well. At the moment Thamelink are charged a fee for the shuttle bus using the airports bus station. Now it looks like the airport could be charged a fee by Thamelink for issuing a through ticket. That is assuming a deal can be reached.
It doesn't quite work like that. Luton Airport is regarded as a National Rail station having the code LUA. You can through ticket from any other station on the network. Who gets what proportion of the fare is determined by the Rail Settlement Plan and is calculated taking into account the number of operators over the entire route. For instance a single ticket from St Pancras to Luton Airport would be shared by Thameslink and East Midlands Railway with the shuttle bus share going to Thameslink. Should the airport strike a deal over the DART then that proportion would go to them through the RSP. If the airport want to be the exclusive vendors of tickets for the DART then through ticketing on the national network would not be possible. Thameslink do not issue tickets on their exclusive behalf unless they introduce an advance ticket or a ticket only valid on their services (such as those sold onboard incoming flights) so could not charge the airport a fee for doing so on a through ticket. Saying that, a commission could be received on stand alone DART tickets sold by them, if the airport allowed their sale.