Originally Posted by
enviroian
What I do find annoying is even though I can buy my train ticket online I still need to go the vending machine (what one of maybe 3??) to get my ticket again. Half-....
Regarding the tube I can't remember the last time I bought a ticket from the vending machine. it's zoned right? Is it pretty painless? I get angst because I know there will be impatient travelers behind me that use it everyday. It's no different when I lived in Chicago and was lined up behind tourists trying to buy el tickets via the machine LOL
There is a zonal system yes.
Regular tube travellers will not be visiting the machines. They will probably use either their contactless payment card (just touch it on the way in and touch it on the way out) or an Oyster card with a season ticket on it. If you have a contactless credit card you can (probably) use it, just touch it on the reader at the gate. There are some restrictions on foreign cards, I expect there is a thread all about it.
Alternatively you could buy a Heathrow to Ashford Intl unrestricted paper ticket which would cover all of the journey. But afaik such tickets cannot be collected at Heathrow.