Luton were always second best and goalkeeper Dean Brill, who kept the score down with some fine saves, was the only player to come out of the match with any real credit as Hartlepool rediscovered their early-season form.
Hartlepool dominated the first half and a ragged Luton weren't helped when veteran Don Hutchison, who started his at Hartlepool, limped off with a knee injury on the half-hour.
A minute earlier, the home team had gone in front courtesy of Richie Barker's penalty, his 13th goal of the season, after Joel Porter had been tripped from behind deep in the area by Chris Perry.
But Luton keeper Brill had already made three great saves to keep his side in the game. On 18 minutes he finger-tipped a James Brown shot wide for a corner, and did the same with Alan Thompson's free-kick four minutes later.
His best save came in the 26th minute when he again used his finger-tips to claw a Barker header round his right-hand post.
Luton's only threat came from veteran Paul Furlong, who had an early shot deflected wide and blasted a 25-yard shot a foot over the bar.
It was one-way traffic in the second half and two goals in three minutes killed off Luton's weak challenge.
On 61 minutes Thompson curled in a 30-yeard free-kick and three minutes later sub David Foley's run from the right cut the defence wide open and his low cross was tapped in by Joel Porter.
Barker got goal number four with 17 minutes left when he controlled Tony Sweeney's high cross, turned and forced his close-range shot over the line.