On Apr 20, 11:54*pm, Abigail Brady wrote:

On Apr 20, 9:31 pm, Mr Thant
wrote:

On the rare occasions the Heathrow Express substitutes for the
Piccadilly Line, the conductors are instructed to only see you have an
Oyster card.

Are the HEX platforms at Paddington gated; and is there anywhere to
touch out at the Heathrow end?

As Mr Thant has said, no the HEx platforms are not gated at either
end.

I understand the plan is for Oyster PAYG to be accepted on Heathrow
Connect (but not HEx) soon. In a way this is great, and in the long
term it's useful as it smooths the way for Crossrail accepting Oyster
PAYG all the way to and from Heathrow, but one can inevitably see the
copious potential for confusion - passengers wishing to use Oyster
PAYG ending up on HEx, Heathrow Express passengers who correctly hold
separate tickets also managing to touch-in/out and ending up with
unresolved journeys. etc etc.