As many as 240 flights are expected to be cancelled today as a result of the disruption, with fire crews spending 12 hours battling the blaze, which is feared to have destroyed or severely damaged some 1,500 cars.
Those planning to fly from the airport instead had to make last minute plans, frantically dashing to nearby hotels in the hope of a spare room, but many had to make do with a sofa in reception. Several chains including the local Marriott, Best Western and Hampton have again sold out for tonight.
Access to the airport from the Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit (Dart) has been closed, leaving passengers stuck on railway platforms at Luton Airport Parkway, while a number of roads are also shut, affecting bus services and forcing travellers to walk uphill for more than a mile with their luggage to find alternative transport.
Others chose to stay at the airport and make a temporary bed for themselves on the floor, including a Polish family who were visiting London on holiday.
Frustrated passengers sleep on the floor after facing hours of delays at Luton airport
Passengers wait at Luton Airport, which has been closed with flights suspended until at least 3pm on Wednesday
An information panel at Luton Airport, which has been closed with flights suspended until at least 3pm on Wednesday
The charred remains of dozens of cars in the Luton Airport multi-storey following last night's devastating fire
Gregorz Szmit, 46, said their flight to Gdansk should have departed at 9.50pm on Tuesday and is now scheduled to leave at 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Mr Szmit, speaking from the terminal building where he is waiting with his wife and their two sons aged seven and 15, said: 'We were on holiday for five days to visit London - British Museum, Trafalgar Square.
'This is difficult, I must say. This is our first journey to England, to London. It's been an adventure.'Agnieske Szmit, 44, added: 'We missed our work today, the children should be at school.'
'The police in the night - it was cold outside.'
The chaos has also seen a frantic dash for parking spaces, with nearly 2,000 now out of action as a result of the fire.
A check on Luton Airport's website at about 9am today found there was no availability for parking on any of its official sites before Friday, October 27 - with a space at the Terminal 1 Car Park available for £138 for the week from that date.
The website, which had a wait time of eight minutes just to enter it this morning amid heightened demand, said the area is just a four-minute walk to the terminal, and is the closest car park to the terminal entrance.
The fire took place at the airport's new Terminal Car Park 2 – and no spaces were listed on that site over the coming weeks and months, even when looking one year in advance.
Demand will now likely increase for rival operators such as Purple Parking and Airparks, for which the cheapest price available through both websites for a week from October 27 was £170 for a 'meet-and-greet' service.
Flights are expected to resume from 3pm, while drop-offs are now open again at the airport. Paul Gaitely, 59, described looking up at a 'sea of red' as a flood of cancellations rolled in.
His four-man holiday to Tenerife, with his drinking buddies dubbed The Jolly Boys, will have to be rescheduled.
Last night the Luton resident, who lives less than a mile from the airport, heard bangs and saw flames, leading him to believe a plane had crashed.
He said: 'We all heard crashes and we could hear all the sirens. I said to my wife 'there's something happening at the airport.'
'Then we could heard the bangs from the cars, the windows. We heard the sirens before the bangs. I could see the flames, I thought it was a plane crash.'
He said a relative who works in the airport had told him that a Range Rover had caused the fire, information that has not been confirmed by officials.
Mr Gaitely, the director of a planting machinery company, said he had been on his way to celebrate a friend's 70th birthday.He addeed: 'Our flight has been cancelled unfortunately, we literally got message now, it's a bit late.'We just looked and the board and saw a sea of red.'