Full Luton experience report
I know I have already posted about the queue at border control but I thought for balance I would give my overall impressions of being a first time user of Luton airport.
I frequently use Stansted, Gatwick and Heathrow for flying, but because of route competition between EZY and Vueling to Barcelona for this trip LTN was significantly cheaper, plus I was collecting a mate from Stevenage on my way so that also made Luton a good choice.
Arriving: I took LTNman's advice (thank you again) and got to the long stay car park with no problems at 08:00 in the morning. £32 for 4 days seemed a fair price for four days parking and we quickly found a space. Bus arrived promptly and we were at the terminal in about 15 minutes.
Checkin/bag drop: already checked in on line, but I had a hold bag so headed for the EZY desks. Not much of a queue and we had the bag done in about 5 minutes. The terminal is obviously being worked on but it caused me no issues.
Security: nice and fast, short queue but better than Stansted and Gatwick. Not as fast as Heathrow T5 but then not much is. Pleasantly surprised and certainly no complaints.
Departure area/lounge: straight into the Aspire lounge - what an asset to the airport this is. Easily the best Aspire lounge I have been in (not tried the T5 one as head to Galleries there) but better than the aspire at Gatwick and miles better than the offering at Stansted. Good hot breakfast of bacon and eggs, coffee was good. Loads of space and after finishing a night shift at 07:00 that morning the showers were a welcome refresh (though the £15 additional charge was about excessive they were very nice). The public departure area is under development but it seemed like it would be light. Not sure how this will develope, without access to the lounge we would have struggled to find somewhere to sit. Shops were limited but ok - usual trek through a perfume filled duty free - I don't mind but the wife is allergic to perfume do we hurry through these places face down normally. I actually like the opportunity to browse shops but I know a lot don't. I think the departure area will be nice enough when finished - I like Stansted and Heathrow here, Gatwick is hit and miss.
Long walk to the furthest gate and then abus to a remote stand was a pain, they need more attached gates which I believe are coming.
Overall after the departure experience I was left fairly impressed. I was prepared to have a hellish time but actually found the experience very pleasant. The inbound experience was completely different but I won't go over old ground here. With initiation and increased flights on the BCN route it's very likely I'll try Luton again - I know departing I can camp out in the lounge and I only hope that they improve the inbound situation as the boarder control queue/organisation and baggage delivery is a mess