Luton Airport Short Stay Parking

The car parks closest to the terminal

At Luton, short stays mean the two terminal car parks, with Priority Parking and Mid Stay as close alternatives.

Operator	Car park	Type	Transfer	8-day price
	Official Mid Stay On-Airport · Official	Park & Walk	Walk, about 10 min	£67.54 £8.44/day
	Official Priority Parking (Drop & Go) On-Airport · Official	Drop & Go	Self-service key drop, 3-min walk	£75.59 £9.45/day
	Official Terminal Car Park 1 On-Airport · Official	Park & Walk	Walk, about 4 min by footbridge	£88.89 £11.11/day
	Official Terminal Car Park 2 On-Airport · Official	Park & Walk	Walk, about 5 min	£88.89 £11.11/day

*What eight days cost with our code, using a sample stay from 7 to 14 November 2026. Search your own dates at the top of the page for today's rates.

Walking times from each

Three to ten minutes covers every option.

Walking times from the airport's car park pages, checked 25 September 2026.

Terminal Car Parks 1 and 2

Both cost the same pre-booked; Car Park 1 is a minute closer, linked by a footbridge.

Both have a 2.1m height restriction, so check a roof box or tall SUV before booking. Blue Badge bays are on several levels. See the terminal car parks guide.

Gate prices

The terminal car parks charge from the first half hour on the gate, rising to £75 for a full day.

From the airport's car park pages, checked 25 September 2026.

For a day trip, the gate price in a terminal car park is already close to a week's pre-booked price at Slip End. Pre-book whenever you know your dates.

Mid Stay has lost its free window

Mid Stay used to give 15 minutes free. It no longer does.

For a free stop, use Long Stay instead. Our Luton drop-off and pick-up guide explains the options.

Priority Parking for a short trip

Priority Parking sits inside Terminal Car Park 1 and is the closest option, about three minutes from the terminal.

You drop your keys in a secure chute after checking in at a machine, and staff move the car. For a business day trip, it costs less than parking yourself in the terminal car parks on our dates. See the Priority Parking guide.

Short trips and business travel

For one or two nights, the terminal car parks save the most time at both ends.

On a late return after a meeting, a four-minute walk over the footbridge beats waiting for a bus. The price gap to Mid Stay over a couple of days is small in pounds. Book the exact dates, because the gate charges for any extra day at the full daily rate.

Blue Badge holders

Blue Badge holders and passengers with booked assistance get 30 minutes free in Terminal Car Park 1.

All the airport's car parks have disabled bays: Levels 0 and 1 in Terminal Car Park 1, Levels 1 and 2 in Terminal Car Park 2, zone A in Mid Stay and near bus stop 7 in Long Stay.

Motorbikes

Motorcycles park free in Mid Stay's designated bays for up to 14 days.

After 14 days, charges apply. It is one of the few genuinely free options at Luton.

Short stay or the drop-off zone

For a stop longer than a few minutes, a terminal car park can beat the drop-off zone.

The drop-off zone charges £9 for up to 12 minutes and caps stays at 30 minutes, so it is no place to wait for a delayed flight. A terminal car park lets you walk in with your passenger and has no half-hour limit. For a free option, Long Stay allows up to two hours and has a bus to the terminal.

Booking a short stay

Book the exact hours you need.

Pre-booked prices at Luton are per day, and the gate charges each extra day at the full daily rate. Choose your return time with a little margin for delays, because a late return runs onto the gate tariff. For a one-night trip, compare Priority Parking, which costs less than the terminal car parks on our dates and puts you even closer to the terminal.

Height limits near the terminal

The terminal car parks and Priority Parking share a 2.1m barrier.

Only Mid Stay, among the options on this page, has no height restriction. With a van or a roof box, it is the short-stay choice, ten minutes from the terminal on foot.

Picking someone up

A terminal car park is the easiest place to meet arriving passengers when you want to walk in and help with bags.

Terminal Car Park 1's footbridge takes you straight to the terminal in about four minutes. You pay the gate tariff for the time you stay, which starts at half an hour. For a longer wait on a delayed flight, the free period in Long Stay costs nothing, though it means a bus ride.

Electric cars

The airport's short stay car park pages do not list EV charging.

Arrive with enough charge for the drive home. APH sells an EV product, Charge & Go, at its Slip End site, but that is an off-airport option with a bus transfer rather than a short stay by the terminal.

For a day trip, a car that leaves home charged will usually manage the return without a top-up. For a week away in cold weather, allow for the battery losing a little range while parked.

Terminal car parks or Mid Stay

Mid Stay trades six extra minutes on foot for a lower price and no height limit.

For a trip of a day or two, the terminal car parks win on convenience, especially at night. For three nights or more, the saving at Mid Stay starts to add up, and the walk becomes a small price to pay. With a van or a roof box, Mid Stay is the only choice of the two.

Security

All four options sit inside the airport's own car parks, which it says are Park Mark certified and patrolled 24/7.

London Luton Airport says its own car parks are Park Mark certified, as assessed by the police, and patrolled around the clock. The off-airport operators describe their own security, which we report as their accounts rather than checking it ourselves.

Short stays at Luton: common questions