Gerrards Cross to Luton Taxi

Turning clockwise at Junction 16 for Luton

Luton is the one airport where we go the other way round the M25. The opening is familiar, the A40 Oxford Road east past Tatling End to the Denham Roundabout, Junction 1 of the M40 and then Junction 1A, but at Junction 16 the car turns clockwise instead of anticlockwise. From there it is Junction 17 at Maple Cross, Junction 18 for Chorleywood, Junction 20 for the A41 and off at Junction 21 for the M1 north. The airport arrives quickly after that. Leave the M1 at Junction 10, follow the spur round to Junction 10a, and the A1081 New Airport Way carries you the last stretch to the terminal. The airport asks drivers to set the sat-nav to its own postcode rather than to Luton, which can land you in the town centre a couple of miles short, and then to follow the signs on site for the car park or the Drop Off point, and that last part is where a driver who has done it recently saves you a lap. When the M1 is blocked around St Albans, leaving at Junction 8 for the A414 and picking up the A1081 through Harpenden brings you back onto the same road into the airport.

At around 50 to 65 minutes, Luton is the shortest of the longer airport runs from Gerrards Cross, which changes how people book it. A six o'clock departure means a car outside while Packhorse Road is still dark and the parade by the station is shut, and that is the most common Luton job we do. The rest is spread across the year, families from Austenwood and Chalfont Heights, people flying out to see relatives, and travellers from the Chalfonts and Fulmer who picked a route that only leaves from Luton. Because the early slots dominate, the phone matters as much as the car. We answer at any hour, so a booking made at three in the morning is treated exactly like one made at three in the afternoon, and the same standards run through all of our airport transfer work whichever airport you are heading for. Give us the flight number and the pickup is set against the aircraft rather than a guess, which matters most on the way back: land late at Luton and you still have the M1 and a long stretch of the M25 ahead, and a car already waiting beats one you have to summon.

Is it quicker to get the train from Gerrards Cross to Luton?

No. Gerrards Cross station is on the Chiltern line into London Marylebone, and there is no rail connection from Marylebone to St Pancras. You would go across London, then take East Midlands Railway's Luton Airport Express, which the operator times at 22 minutes from St Pancras to Luton Airport Parkway, and finally the Luton DART into the terminal.

The DART is automated and runs all day and night, every four minutes at peak and every 15 minutes at the quietest times. Once you add Chiltern, the Underground or a London taxi, a wait on the platform and the DART, though, it takes clearly longer than the 50–65 minute drive, and you carry the luggage the whole way.

Rail makes sense for a light traveller at midday. For a family, a 6am flight or a late landing, a car is simpler. Our Gerrards Cross airport transfers guide compares the airports, and the Luton quick-getaway guide covers the airport itself.