A Good Little Airport (London Luton Airport (LTN))

Member Name: Recon

Product:	London Luton Airport (LTN)
Date:	01/03/08 (193 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good shops, Good places to eat, Easy and quite quick

Disadvantages: Can get very busy with queues

Luton airport is my local airport, which I use all the time flying to and from Spain to visit my parents out there. It is an excellent airport with everything you need and it is very quick and easy. The airport is very small compared to other ones around London, however it does have one large runway and is an international airport, so can operate international flights as well as ones within Europe. It has a good range of shops and places to eat and operates many flights everyday.

You can get trains, buses and travel by car or coach to the airport. If you are going away, you can also leave your car in the car park by the airport or another one nearby. If you do, you get a bus ride to the departures entrance where you will continue to check in. The entrance to the airport is surrounded by many different bus stops and drop-off points for buses and cars.

As you enter the airport, you are faced with a few shops and restaurants. You will walk through a little arcade area with a bar to one side and cafes and shops further down. You will come to a very large and long hall. Here is where you will check in.

Most of the check in desks will be for EasyJet, as they run many flights from Luton. Down the other end will be check in desks for other airlines such as Monarch, Thomson's, Spainair, XL Airways and more. Don't worry, because the escalator up to the next part is down that end anyway! There is a TV above every check in desk, which normally gives you a good idea of the airport and what to do e.g. shop, eat and board your plane.

The escalator you will head up has bars either side at the bottom to stop you taking any trolleys or anything up. Once up top, there is a small room where you will walk through past passport control and they will check that you have tickets. You will then walk through some doors into a large security room. Before doing so, you must dispose of any items such as sharp items, dangerous items or lighters in containers within the passport control room.

The security room has always been quick for me as I catch early flights. However there is a lot of space to queue if it is busy. Once at the front, you will go through a metal detector and put your bags and any items in your pockets through the metal detector. The security at this airport seems to be pretty good and they do carry out regular searches too with armed police around too.

Once you have passed security, you enter the main part of the airport with all the shops and places to eat. There is a good selection of places to shop including WHSmith, Boots, Dixons, Duty Free and more such as clothes shops. With these shops available, you can buy magazines for the flight and even check out the latest electronics in Dixons. There is also a sunglasses hut if you are going somewhere sunny and need some sunglasses! Any sweets, snacks or chocolate can easily be bought at WHSmith or Boots.

As for eating, there are many different places. There is a Starbucks as well as a restaurant with hot food and sandwiches. Here, you can get a traditional English breakfast such as egg, bacon, beans and toast. You can also buy many freshly made sandwiches such as tuna and cucumber, cheese, bacon/ham, egg mayonnaise and many more.

There is also a Bagel Hut, which is a good place to grab some food but quite busy. You will be queuing for a while, but they do serve lovely bagels with smoked salmon or other meats. You can also buy drinks cheaper at WHSmith and Boots, as well as sandwiches if they haven't sold out! The queues in WHSmith are normally the longest as it is near the entrance to the hall, but Boots can be busy too.

There are constant announcements for flights and information. There are seating areas right across the middle of the hall with plenty of seats. There are also many screens around that display flight information such as boarding times, gates and flight numbers. When you go to board, you will go down one side and either turn left or right.

The gates aren't too far to walk such as in Heathrow or Gatwick airport; however it is best to leave for them straight away. There are many more seating areas downstairs and even a cafe, which no one seems to know about unless you are going to your gate!

So overall, the airport is very good. It has a 2,160 metre runway in the direction of 08/26. This means you will take off in a westerly direction and you normally land in an easterly direction. If you are heading to Spain or down to France, then you will turn left shortly after taking off. The airport has good facilities with plenty of toilets, shops and places to eat. The security is good but not too tight such as Gatwick's last time I visited there. Checking in is very easy and the hall is big.

Thanks for reading,

- Recon -

Summary: A great little airport with everything you will need before you take to the skies