Mid February 2019 I took a trip to London and ended up at three different airports. I already found out all the information for buying a sim card at London Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted Airport so when I ended up at London Luton Airport I also did a UK prepaid sim card comparison and found you the best UK sim card for your trip to London.
Looking for a sim card for Europe travel? Read my complete guide in the link.
The reason I ended up on three different airports in London in February 2019 is a funny one, or rather stupid. For my flight to Gdansk, Poland I showed up at London Stansted Airport instead of London Luton Airport. I missed my flight but was lucky enough to fly a couple hours later to Poland on a different flight from Luton Airport.
When traveling to and from London double check that you are at the right airport. It sounds like a simple thing but apparently even for a very well experienced traveler like me it is not. In total I have been to almost a 100 countries in 7 years and by documenting these trips I became a full time professional travel blogger. Read more about it in the link.
When traveling to London Im sure a list of cheap Airbnbs in London will be interesting to you. Check out these 15 homes for under $100 per night!
Order a Europe sim card online
You can also buy your Europe sim card online and get it shipped to your home address for free. Orange offers 20GB and 200 minutes worldwide for $49. Click on the link to find out more.
3 best UK sim cards you can buy online
If you don't want to waste your precious UK holiday time standing in line getting for buying a UK sim card then order one online. On top of the above mentioned Orange sim card for Europe, the following prepaid sim cards are perfect for traveling in the UK:
Orange Smart Comfort S - 8 GB data
Price: $30
- 8 GB data
- 30 minutes worldwide
- 200 sms worldwide
- Valid 14 days
Three Smart Silver - 5 GB data
Price: $30
- 5 GB data
- Unlimited calls within Europe
- Unlimited sms within Europe
- Valid 30 days
Three Smart Gold - 12 GB data
Price: $40
- 12 GB data
- Unlimited calls within Europe
- Unlimited sms within Europe
- Valid 30 days
London Luton Airport
After Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Luton is the 4th largest airport in London. More than 90% of the arrivals are from European destinations, only a handful intercontinental flights arriving here per day. Mainly arrivals from Asia and Northern Africa.
Free data roaming in EU with UK sim cards
Because there are hardly any intercontinental arrivals the demand for UK sim cards at Luton Airport is not as big as normal. Since summer 2017 data roaming fees within the EU are banned. Therefore most people traveling to London can use their own local sim cards from home.
But because I like to investigate sim card for tourists in the UK I also did my research at Luton Airport, just as I did it for Amsterdam airport, Frankfurt, Rome, Paris and many more. Buying sim cards at airports is not always the best idea. Especially in Netherlands and Germany you get ripped off buying a sim card on arrival instead of in the city center.
Brexit and EU roaming
No one is sure what will happen in the next months, but so far there is no news about free roaming in Europe. May there be news about the effects of Brexit and free EU roaming with UK sim cards, I will update this article straight away.
Where to buy a sim card at London Luton Airport
Just like at the other London Airports there are two places where you can buy a UK sim card: a sim card vending machine in the baggage claim hall and at the WH Smith shop in the arrivals hall.
Of course the vending machine is not giving you any service, although all the info is clearly displayed. But I can understand that there are still a lot of questions that rise. At the WH Smith shop they are able to give you a little more information in case you have questions about buying a UK prepaid sim card at London Luton Airport.
Buying a UK prepaid sim card at London Luton Airport
There are 4 main mobile internet operators in the UK: Vodafone, Three, O2 and EE. Apart from O2 you can buy prepaid UK sim cards from all of them and on top of that there is Lebara and Lyca Mobile sim cards available.
Lebara sim cards can be found at the WH Smith shops and Lyca Mobile sim cards can be bought from the sim card vending machine.
These are the available prepaid UK sim cards at London Luton Airport.
Vodafone UK prepaid sim card
There is only one Vodafone UK prepaid sim card available at London Luton Airport and I can already tell you it is not the best deal at all. You can buy it at the sim card vending machine in the baggage hall.
|
Price |
£20 |
|
Data |
1GB + 4GB extra |
|
Minutes |
Unlimited |
|
Text |
Unlimited |
|
Valid |
30 days |
Lyca Mobile UK prepaid sim card
The Lyca Mobile UK sim cards can only be bought at the sim card vending machines as well.
|
Price |
£25 |
£35 |
|
Data |
6GB |
15GB |
|
Minutes |
3,000 |
Unlimited |
|
International minutes |
100 |
100 |
|
Text |
3,000 |
Unlimited |
|
Valid |
30 days |
30 days |
Lebara UK prepaid sim card
Lebara prepaid sim cards can only be found at the WH Smith shop in the arrivals hall. If you have read my article about prepaid sim cards in Spain, Germany and France you already know Im not a big fan of Lebara sim cards. At London Luton Airport they have offer two UK sim cards.
|
Price |
£20 |
£30 |
|
Data |
1GB |
5GB |
|
Minutes |
500 |
Unlimited |
|
International minutes |
500 |
Unlimited |
|
Text |
- |
1,000 |
|
Valid |
30 days |
30 days |
In case you might be someone who calls a lot to international numbers the unlimited bundle on the £30 UK sim card of Lebara could be of use. Although WhatsApp calls are for free nowadays and you only need a proper data connection.
Three UK prepaid sim card
At the sim card vending machine you find 1 Three prepaid sim card and at the WH Smith shop you can find three more.
|
Price |
£30 vending machine |
£20 WH Smith shop |
£30 WH Smith shop |
£45 WH Smith shop |
|
Data |
12GB |
1GB |
12GB |
Unlimited* |
|
Minutes |
Unlimited |
3,000 |
3,000 |
3,000 |
|
Text |
Unlimited |
3,000 |
3,000 |
3,000 |
|
Valid |
30 days |
30 days |
30 days |
30 days |
*The unlimited data bundle in the EE UK Prepaid sim card for £45 is limited to 12GB per destination in Europe.
EE UK prepaid sim card
Last but not least the EE UK sim cards. There are only 2 different UK sim cards available, but you can buy them at both the sim card vending machine and the WH Smith shop.
|
Price |
£20 |
€25 |
|
Data |
10.5GB |
13GB |
|
Minutes |
150 UK or international |
250 UK or international |
|
Text |
150 |
500 |
|
Valid |
30 days |
30 days |
Best UK sim card London Luton Airport
I would never recommend buying a Vodafone or a Lebara prepaid sim card for traveling in the UK, simply because the offered value for money is not good. I like big internet bundles and calling and texting I can’t be bothered about as I never do it that much.
So when we compare the sim cards with data bundles we can see that EE UK has the best value for money. On top of that is EE the only mobile internet provider who makes it possible to connect in the London Underground. There is no phone signal but all stations are equipped with an exclusive WiFi signal for EE costumers.
Therefore the best UK sim card at London Luton Airport is EE.
Looking for London accommodation? I found these lovely London Airbnbs for under $100 per night for you!
Rather buy your Europe sim card online? Then click on the following link to check out this Orange sim card offer: 20GB, 200 international minutes worldwide and it will be shipped for free to your home address.
From Luton Airport to London City
There are many busses and trains leaving every 10 minutes. Close to the exit there is an information center on your right side if you walk out. There you can find information about how to get from Luton Airport to London and also directly buy tickets.
Trains are the fastest option, busses are cheaper though. There are live information screen available about the departing busses and trains and free shuttles to the train station. The bus stop is directly outside the terminal.
For moer information about the best UK sim card for travelers, click on the link in this article and I give you all the available prepaid sim cards in the UK which you can buy in the mobile internet provider shops around the country.
I hope this article with information about buying a sim card at London Luton Airport was helpful for your trip to London.
