LUTON - 6
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Top 4 destinations - 1st Edinburgh, 2nd Malaga, 3rd Glasgow. 4th Warsaw(somewhat surprising)
Meanwhile, Ryanair (who also have more capacity per flight), offer 29 weekly flights between Luton and Dublin.
So surprising that Warsaw has beat Dublin...
Join Date: Jan 2003
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So surprising that Warsaw has beat Dublin
On a different topic, apparently negotiations for flights by Shaheen Air to LTN are in the final stages, and are expected to start on the 29/30 March. The main GSA for Shaheen in the UK is hoping to commence ticket sales on the route from the first week in February.
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I noticed a swanky new bendy bus in full station - airport shuttle bus livery today. Have to say it looked impressive and should help ease the overcrowding.
Yes. It seems that First Capital Connect(First Bus Div) have taken over the Service. Apparentlly they have invested £1.3m in four "state of the art" articulated buses that can carry 97 passengers, double that of the old buses. The downside, it looks like they are going to charge pax £1 for the one mile trip between Parkway station and the airport terminal.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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These series of pictures are of the bus that is used for the shuttle service between the station and the airport. The pictures show the same inertia and exterior colour scheme that is used at the airport.
http://www.goftr.com/leeds/view.php
I might be wrong on this but it would seem that when you buy a train ticket from the airports railway ticket desk this does not include the bus trip to the station. You then have to pay someone else for the bus ride who stands by the bus stop. I was told that the fare is £2.
The bus does look cool and looks more like a tram than a bus and is 61ft long.
http://www.goftr.com/leeds/view.php
I might be wrong on this but it would seem that when you buy a train ticket from the airports railway ticket desk this does not include the bus trip to the station. You then have to pay someone else for the bus ride who stands by the bus stop. I was told that the fare is £2.
The bus does look cool and looks more like a tram than a bus and is 61ft long.
Last edited by LTNman; 21st Jan 2008 at 21:14.
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Local rag gives ticket price of £1 if you have a train ticket or £1-50 if you have no train ticket.
We are told airport train tickets have not been increased as much as other train tickets in the last price hike, this to offset the new £1 cost.
We are told airport train tickets have not been increased as much as other train tickets in the last price hike, this to offset the new £1 cost.
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So how much are the airport making out of every £1?
I assume you pay for the ticket before you get on the bus, or does it take the driver 30 minutes to hand out change to the 97 passengers as they board? Do they take Euros?
This is total extortion charging for the ride, what next, the airport using the same tactics to provide buses (at cost) from the stands to the Tinminal?
£1 this month, then what...... "Welcome to Rip Off Britain!"
Long gone are the days of providing a service to the customer. I guess the alternative is to walk.....!
Invested £1.3 million.......So they have bought the buses outright?.......Bollix!
If FCC have taken the service over, why can you not purchase a 'through ticket' (assuming from the posts above that you cannot)?
I assume you pay for the ticket before you get on the bus, or does it take the driver 30 minutes to hand out change to the 97 passengers as they board? Do they take Euros?
This is total extortion charging for the ride, what next, the airport using the same tactics to provide buses (at cost) from the stands to the Tinminal?
£1 this month, then what...... "Welcome to Rip Off Britain!"
Long gone are the days of providing a service to the customer. I guess the alternative is to walk.....!
Invested £1.3 million.......So they have bought the buses outright?.......Bollix!
If FCC have taken the service over, why can you not purchase a 'through ticket' (assuming from the posts above that you cannot)?
Join Date: Jul 2002
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2 men were flogging tickets to passengers as they tried to board the bus. I was quoted £2 before I abandoned my idea of trying the bus out. (£4 return
)
£16 return seems a lot for a family of 4
)£16 return seems a lot for a family of 4
Join Date: May 2001
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Absolutely rediculous
"Welcome to Rip Off Britain!"
..sorry i don't follow the LTN boards close enough to pin blame!I'm afraid its back to the baa airports for me. If a service demonstrates value for money I have no problem paying fare increases...but the bones of £28 for day returns to London in particular is simply outreagous.
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Buster the Bear – New Buses
I think you will find Buster that the bus service is now being operated by First Capital Connect (the train operator) which has taken the service over from NCP and the charging has nothing to do with the airport. The driver is called a pilot – yes a pilot – and is enclosed in his own cab so cannot take any fares, that is why you have people standing at the bus stop selling tickets.
I agree it is a rip-off but practically everything in the UK is a total rip-off!
I agree it is a rip-off but practically everything in the UK is a total rip-off!
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As I'm never one to be cynical I would have thought the fact First Capital Connect fail to run an train service which complies with any form of customer service expection, should have meant they would never have been allowed to attempt to run a bus service. I'm absolutely disgusted they have the nerve to charge for it when I already believe their train prices to London to be a total rip off.
Join Date: Jul 2000
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My pet peeve are the outrageous short term car park charges. On our holiday to Mahon (Menorca) last September, I almost fainted when the charge for parking our hire car at the main airport car park (about 15 seconds walk from the terminal entrance) for 1 hour came to 20 cents. That's right, about 12p. And the machine gave change!
The whole basis of the Parkway station (opened in Nov 2001 on the same day as the new terminal) was that for no more than the price of the train ticket, you would arrive directly at the check-in desk ... just as you can do at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted .. and a variety of others.
The inconvenience and time wasted by having to also use the shuttle bus (with the further risk to getting to easyJet's check-in before it closes in your face) should make the train ticket cheaper as an apology.
Of course it doesn't take long for the principles to change and pledges to be forgotten if there is a quick buck to be made.
Personally my journey to work from Redhill to St Pancras is by Southern Trains and tube and I avoid like the plague the FCC trains (which would be equally convenient) but which I consider as cattle trucks without the straw.
I really fail to understand how the airport management avoid noticing the obvious, in that the perceived easiest and cheapest will get the business and the others will fall by the way. Those perceived to be cynically lining their pockets will become victims first.
The inconvenience and time wasted by having to also use the shuttle bus (with the further risk to getting to easyJet's check-in before it closes in your face) should make the train ticket cheaper as an apology.
Of course it doesn't take long for the principles to change and pledges to be forgotten if there is a quick buck to be made.
Personally my journey to work from Redhill to St Pancras is by Southern Trains and tube and I avoid like the plague the FCC trains (which would be equally convenient) but which I consider as cattle trucks without the straw.
I really fail to understand how the airport management avoid noticing the obvious, in that the perceived easiest and cheapest will get the business and the others will fall by the way. Those perceived to be cynically lining their pockets will become victims first.
If Abertis are behind the imposition of fares on the shuttle bus, one can hardly be surprised. They are, until Luton Borough Council grows up, merely the custodian of a cash cow until their concession ends. So they will maximise their cash earnings, as they don't need to look at the future beyond 2015.
Expect more short-term charges (not enough to frighten the punters away), and more executive jets (not covered by the concession agreement), accompanied by little or no investment, unless it can offer a handsome and rapid pay-back.
Expect more short-term charges (not enough to frighten the punters away), and more executive jets (not covered by the concession agreement), accompanied by little or no investment, unless it can offer a handsome and rapid pay-back.
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They're just taking note of what the Lo-cost boys do...
No ones making you pay the £1/£1.50/£2 as you could walk from the station (yeah right!), but if you want this little extra then you can pay for it. Just like charges for RyanAir Check-in, sleasyBoarding, etc
Airports will be charging you to stand in thier queues next.
I can see one area where charging would work - charging a £1 for each item taken off you at security. That would stop the tossers who cause chaos by thinking they can take half a gallon of creams, gells, etc with them.
No ones making you pay the £1/£1.50/£2 as you could walk from the station (yeah right!), but if you want this little extra then you can pay for it. Just like charges for RyanAir Check-in, sleasyBoarding, etc
Airports will be charging you to stand in thier queues next.
I can see one area where charging would work - charging a £1 for each item taken off you at security. That would stop the tossers who cause chaos by thinking they can take half a gallon of creams, gells, etc with them.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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I had a chat with someone at the station today who was issuing tickets at the shuttle stop. She said the fare was £1 for rail passengers, 50p for children and £1.50 for non rail passengers. She claimed that if you asked for Luton Airport as your destination as apposed to Luton Airport Parkway the extra £1 would be included in the fare. As I pointed out this is not an option if you book a ticket online. I also mentioned that someone tried to charge me £2 for the journey from the airport on Sunday.
Seems that most passengers were being charged for the journey to the airport with some passengers handing over £20 notes for the £1 fare as they did not have change.
For that £1 you are getting a service that runs every 10 minutes and not every 15 minutes like the old one and you travel in a high tech bus with twice the capacity which is also air-conditioned.
Seems that most passengers were being charged for the journey to the airport with some passengers handing over £20 notes for the £1 fare as they did not have change.
For that £1 you are getting a service that runs every 10 minutes and not every 15 minutes like the old one and you travel in a high tech bus with twice the capacity which is also air-conditioned.
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LTNman, l wonder if they were trying to sell you a return ticket for £2 if it indeed exists, as most will need the bus from and to the station.
I understand it is not FCC running the service but a sister company in the group that runs buses.
I understand it is not FCC running the service but a sister company in the group that runs buses.
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Parking at Luton Airport Parkway...
Just reading the posts about the Bus Service from the airport to the station, what an absolute rip off!
Its bad enough that the airport does not have its own station as it is and now have to pay for the inconvenience of taking a bus. I wonder what portion of the ticket price LTN as a company are taking as a slice of the fare??? I live 30 odd miles from Luton and the train from Wellingborough already costs £18 return for the 25 minute journey, and now the extra £1.50 on top.
Even though the train times are beyond the control of the airport management, the earliest I can arrive at the airport is about 6.30am and last train back is at 10.22pm. So rules out any early morning departures or late arrivals in the evening.
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Anyway I have sidetracked...
I am flying out of LTN on Friday, and going to Berlin for the day, which will mean me driving tot he airport... As the airports parking is nothing short short of a rip off, is it possible to park at the station and get the bus up to airport?
I know some stations, where if you cannot prove you have travelled on a train. Will charge you some extortion fee of like £50...
Is there any other cheap alternatives, if I am parking for the day? And I mean where I will come back and find my car in one peice!
Its bad enough that the airport does not have its own station as it is and now have to pay for the inconvenience of taking a bus. I wonder what portion of the ticket price LTN as a company are taking as a slice of the fare??? I live 30 odd miles from Luton and the train from Wellingborough already costs £18 return for the 25 minute journey, and now the extra £1.50 on top.
Even though the train times are beyond the control of the airport management, the earliest I can arrive at the airport is about 6.30am and last train back is at 10.22pm. So rules out any early morning departures or late arrivals in the evening.
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Anyway I have sidetracked...
I am flying out of LTN on Friday, and going to Berlin for the day, which will mean me driving tot he airport... As the airports parking is nothing short short of a rip off, is it possible to park at the station and get the bus up to airport?
I know some stations, where if you cannot prove you have travelled on a train. Will charge you some extortion fee of like £50...
Is there any other cheap alternatives, if I am parking for the day? And I mean where I will come back and find my car in one peice!
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Yep you can park at the station and catch the bus to the terminal as many people already do.
Seeing that the new busses cost a total of £1.25m plus the running costs of the busses including staff costs and fuel I would not personally call a £1 fare a rip off
Seeing that the new busses cost a total of £1.25m plus the running costs of the busses including staff costs and fuel I would not personally call a £1 fare a rip off
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http://www.uk-airport-news.info/luto...ews-220108.htm
A reader has told us about the unpublicised changes to the free bus transfer service between Luton Airport and Luton Parkway Station, initiated yesterday morning. The move was news to us, it has not been announced on the airport website. In fact on the airport website's rail page still carries the text '...catch the free Luton Airport shuttle bus...'.
The reader, a weekly commuter who has been using the service for over a year and described it as 'overcrowded and subject to delays caused by roadworks, but relatively effective,' describes the chaos caused yesterday by the introduction of fees.
He said: 'The changes introduced this morning caused me and hundreds of others unacceptable delays as one ticket seller tried to deal with the hundreds of people wishing to use the service. I and many others ended up taking a taxi.'
We have both contacted the airport to ask:
" Why this change was not advertised?
" Why a free service has now been removed? It is still advertised as a free service on the rail and airports websites.
" How much it will cost for a return fare?
We have yet to receive a reply (and would welcome any other readers feedback on this).
Our reader concludes: 'As a regular traveller I am staggered by the way in which this change has been introduced, especially as the airport has a captive clientele who have a limited number of transfer options once they arrive at Luton Parkway Station.'
A reader has told us about the unpublicised changes to the free bus transfer service between Luton Airport and Luton Parkway Station, initiated yesterday morning. The move was news to us, it has not been announced on the airport website. In fact on the airport website's rail page still carries the text '...catch the free Luton Airport shuttle bus...'.
The reader, a weekly commuter who has been using the service for over a year and described it as 'overcrowded and subject to delays caused by roadworks, but relatively effective,' describes the chaos caused yesterday by the introduction of fees.
He said: 'The changes introduced this morning caused me and hundreds of others unacceptable delays as one ticket seller tried to deal with the hundreds of people wishing to use the service. I and many others ended up taking a taxi.'
We have both contacted the airport to ask:
" Why this change was not advertised?
" Why a free service has now been removed? It is still advertised as a free service on the rail and airports websites.
" How much it will cost for a return fare?
We have yet to receive a reply (and would welcome any other readers feedback on this).
Our reader concludes: 'As a regular traveller I am staggered by the way in which this change has been introduced, especially as the airport has a captive clientele who have a limited number of transfer options once they arrive at Luton Parkway Station.'
Giles -
Parking at Parkway station is fairly inexpensive compared to parking in the airport (£4.90/day). Unofficially, there is also parking at the Ibis Hotel (was £3 last summer) and Holiday Inn (£5), both an easy walk to the terminal.
Parking at Parkway station is fairly inexpensive compared to parking in the airport (£4.90/day). Unofficially, there is also parking at the Ibis Hotel (was £3 last summer) and Holiday Inn (£5), both an easy walk to the terminal.