No... it's just that you may not be there by 1600.

It will be organized chaos. Enjoy. :)

St Pancras in the rush hour isn't so bad. It's not the elaborately choreographed commuter ballet of Shinjuku, but it's certainly not a crush like Waterloo or Victoria.

The thing to remember about the new St Pancras is that it's effectively 4 mainline stations, with two Tube stations attached.

So, from Paddington, if you get the Tube, you need to get it from the Tube station on platform 15/16, not the one in the main building. Head up to the overbridge and follow signs to the "Hammersmith & City Line".

At King's Cross St Pancras, you'll arrive at the subsurface Underground station. Follow the signs for St Pancras, and you'll emerge at a lower level. Head up to the main concourse, and you'll emerge into what is basically an upmarket shopping mall in the undercroft of a stunning building.

You need the SouthEastern platforms, which are at the far end of the station, in the modern building. Keep left, head along to the end of the undercroft, then bear right (this is the only annoying bit, as you'll be crossing over the flow of people heading to/from the Thameslink section). You then have an escalator or elevators heading up to the SouthEastern platforms, past the big Starbucks. (If you want a coffee, try the Sourced Market place opposite. Their deli stuff is horrendously overpriced, but they do serve Monmouth Coffee, which is lovely.)

Trains will be busy, but you'll get a seat and luggage storage. Walk forward - people are lazy and the backs of trains fill up. If it looks particularly busy, it's only 15 minutes to the next train. Note that not all trains go to Ashford. Platforms tend to be announced 10-15 minutes before departure to manage crowds, so there can be a bit of a mad rush when they're posted.

Touched down at 1450 and was 2nd person off plane. Walked onto the HEX at 1530. In a taxi at 1555. It's now 1630 and I'm sitting on the fast train leaving at 1637 for Ashford.

Addl info: taxi was £12. Single to Ashford was £29.70

T2 is a long walk!

LHR is way too hot. Good lord turn on the air con please.

I think I learned my lesson over Christmas. It's too much of a pain and $$ to take HEX-taxi-train to kent from LHR. I'm headed back in a few weeks and will just hop on the underground and take the Piccadilly line all the way to Kings Cross and walk over to the St Pancras train platforms to get my single unrestricted to Ashford Int'l.

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.

Shouldn't be any issues with picking up normal UK rail tickets at Heathrow any more, not for about a year or so. IIRC you can only buy HEX / Heathrow Connect like tickets on the spot. However, there are collection only machines. At T5, they're to the left of the main HEX ticket office. At T2/T3, head towards the HEX ticket machines on the -1 level, then turn around when you're there and the normal collection machines are on the wall behind you.

I'm coming in on BA from MAN so I have to check what terminal I'm landing in. That being said I know where the HeX office is and it's no where near the tube...That doesn't sound very efficient to get a tube ticket + train ticket San Pancras to Ashford then trek all the way down to the tube, or am I missing something blatantly obvious.

It's T5. The ticket offices are adjacent, on the main arrivals concourse.

Silly question, but wouldn't it be far quicker to get the train from Manchester to Euston, then walk the 10 minutes to St Pancras?

The man-lhr leg is part of an award redemption.

The tube ride from Heathrow to central London? Yes, the system has zones but you don't need to know or care. Why don't you care?
If you buy a cash (paper) ticket, which is the most expensive option, it's a flat fare.
If you use oyster or contactless (cheapest method) the system logs you in and logs you out then calculates the appropriate fare - you don't need to know or care what zones.
Don't try to buy a through ticket from Heathrow to Kent. It's way cheaper to buy the tube ride and the national rail section separately. (I could try and explain the vagaries of uk rail prices but you'd lose the will to live)

The only reason I care is if I didn't purchase the right zone the turnstyle won't let me exit at Kings Cross.

You mean cash/paper ticket from an attendant at a window?

What's contactless? How much are oyster cards?

Thanks

"The only reason I care is if I didn't purchase the right zone the turnstyle won't let me exit at Kings Cross."
No. There is no zonal coding for a paper ticket. The cash fare is a flat fare to any tube station in London - it doesn't matter if you change your mind while on the train and get off somewhere else - tge ticket is valid. You pay the same cash fare whether you go one stop to Hatton Cross or if you head to central London (oyster / contactless pricing rules are different and it'salways cheaper than a cash fare)

"You mean cash/paper ticket from an attendant at a window?"
In this case you can. For context, note that there are no ticket windows at most tube stations, only machines. The station at T5 is unusual in that it still has a manned window.
Extra context. Buying cash / paper tickets for travel within London is a minority sport. The vast majority of travellers don't do it. The overwhelming majority of passengers use oyster (or a contactless bank card or Apple/Android pay - which can act like an oyster without any need to actually possess an Oyster card).