we are landing at heathrow and need to take a flight out of luton about 3 hours later. can anyone tell me the way to go?

I don't know how to go, I just hope your flight from Luton is not an easyjet or ryanair flight that asks you to be there two hours before the flight. Anyway, I think it's very very short time for the transfer.

Is this 3 hours allowing for customs and immigration at Heathrow and then a journey to Luton? It's a bit tight.
If you have the time take the Heathrow Express train to London Paddington (15 minute journey), underground (Circle line) to King's Cross St Pancras and train to Luton then bus link to the airport.
If you are flying in from outside the E.U. and have a multitude of bags and suitcases then a taxi might be a better but more expensive option.

&quot;<i>It's a bit tight</i>&quot;

it is more than a bit tight. That is very nearly an impossible connection. Who booked this mess? If it is a travel agent have her re-book you w/ no penalties. If you did it yourself -- well I hope your onward flight is changeable/refundable.

Consider these issues:
-It could very well be an hour just from touchdown til you clear immigration at LHR.

-if you are taking one of the budget airlines from Luton -- they simply do not allow late check in. Typical is 45 minutes - one minute late and you will be denied boarding. And some have even more strict check in rules.

- Luton is easily 35 miles from LHR over one of the most congested motorways in Europe. Count on an hour drive time unless it is 0600 on a Sunday morning

- There is no rail connection from LHR - To take a train you would have to go into central London on one train, cross town by tube or taxi to a different train station and then catch another train up to Luton. If you flat out ran through all the various stations (LHR arrivals terminal, LHR train station, Paddington, Kings Cross, Luton bus, Luton terminal) you might be able to make it - but it would be VERY difficult. And I'll assume you have at least carry-on luggage, so a full sprint probably isn't an option.

Do you actually mean 3 hours from arrival at LHR to take off from Luton? Or are you just 'guesstimating' that you have 3 hours after clearing immigration and getting on the bus? There is an easy, direct airport express coach - but 3 hours is just not long enough.

In fairness no low-cost airline insists on 2 hours checkin. But Ryanair and Easyjet cutoff times aren't based on when you arrive at the terminal or get into the queue for checkin: they're the time you need to have got to the front of the queue and actually checked in. So you need to get to the terminal at Luton at least an hour before takeoff. And to add to your problems:

- the National Express bus has a slightly erratic timetable. But it averages a bus every hour and takes an hour when the roads are merely averagely congested. So, however long it takes you to get through immigration, it'll be between one and two hours from getting to the bus stop to arriving at LTN. www.nationalexpress.com

- the tube to train connection at Kings Cross involves a very long walk through a tunnel, and the tube connection is itself the most unreliable on the system. It'll be at least 45 mins from LHR tube station platform to the platform for the LTN link at Kings Cross.

Ensure whoever constructed this insane journey never advises you on travel again. If you want to risk it, booking a cab (like justairports) in advance means there'll be someone waiting for you and you can more or less go straight off. But the way parking at Heathrow works, it'll take about 15 mins from the time you accost the driver as you exit Customs to the time the car's actually getting into the tunnel out of the airport. You might - just - make the cutoff (though I wouldn't bet on it). But there won't be much change from &pound;100 in the taxi fare, whether you make the connection or not.

You'l save a lot of blood pressure by writing the Luton booking off and starting from scratch.

The only good news is that the cost of a pre booked car service would be about &pound;75 rather than the &pound;100 quoted above.
It would be the only practical way to make the journey but as others have said, traffic disruption on a busy weekday morning could easily turn a 45 minute journey into double that.
Please let us know your route details and current timings if you think that we might be able to advise you better.

Given your tight schedule I would hire a car service to take you. They will meet you and drop you off at the airport, very easy.

I've taken the bus many times and not had too much trouble with traffic during the early morning (don't know when your times are). If you do decide on the bus, prebook your journey, this route north sells out. The bus station is very convenient at both Heathrow and Luton airports.

I think either of these would be easier and less scambling than going into London to take the train.

sprin2: The problem isn't that a car service (or the coach) would be at all difficult. Easy as pie actually. I'd do the bus if I had a lot of time and a car service if my connection was short. But short means 4.5 or 5 hours - not 3 hours.

The problem is that bodhijak only has 3 hours (unless he comes back and give us more info re arrival/departure times) from arrival at LHR to departure from Luton.

This connection isn't impossible -- but all the starts and planets would have to line up perfectly for it to work.

You could fly from Heathrow to Manchester, then back to Luton in less than two hours. Just kidding.

Where are you coming from, and what is your destination? There may be (read: is probably) a better way to do it than dashing off to Luton.

wow! many replies. thank you all. i can change the 3 hours to 4 or 5 if that is what is required. i guess there is no bus at the airport that goes directly to luton? we will be arriving from usa with bags, etc. is there an easy way to get from heathrow to luton besides taxi? what will a taxi cost? again, thank you for your responses.......

Bodhijack
Most of your latest questions have already been answered above - taxi will cost approx &pound;75-100, National Express runs a coach service between Heathrow and Luton.
If you've already booked your Luton flight you may not be able to change it without paying a hefty fee.

nationalexpress.com has about 30 trips per day. ETE varies from :55 to 1:25. Figure roughly &pound;30 pp one way.

&quot;<i>i guess there is no bus at the airport that goes directly to luton?</i>&quot;

Huh??

Of course there is - as at least 3 of the above posts mention it. National Express Coach = BUS

<i>what will a taxi cost?</i>&quot;

Again, Huh?

This was also answered at least a couple of times - count on &pound;75 to &pound;100

You still haven't said what day of the week/time of day/airlines. Most of the low cost airlines (I'll assume that is the only reason you are schlepping up to Luton) don't usually allow changes or only w/ huge fees. It is often cheaper to buy a whole new ticket iinstead of trying to change an EasyJet or Ryanair ticket.

But you need to give us more info if we are going to be able to help you anymore.

Yikes about the short connection. We sweat over a 2 hour connection and we're going between terminals at Heathrow. Heathrow is nasty. What if the flight is late or the baggage handlers are on strike again? I assume you got a cheap flight out of Luton and I'd write this off to experience and book another flight - preferably out of Heathrow. You don't mention where you are flying to. When you consider the costs and time and potential of missing the flight out of Luton, there may be cheaper alternatives. Those cheaps flights on Ryanair and easyjet are tempting but at the end of the day... they are more expensive. Also, they charge an arm and a leg if your luggage is a gram over the limit. The price of your luggage may exceed the price of your ticket. Consider BMI out of Heathrow. AT least you won't have to pay the commuting charges which will be more than your plane ticket.

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