Some friends and I will be traveling in the UK in May, landing at Heathrow and taking the train to and from St Pancras (to the Midlands). Some of our group will be traveling on their own before we arrive, and my brother will be meeting us in London at the end of our trip. Where is a good spot in St Pancras rail station to meet up at either end of the trip (keeping in mind that none of us are that familiar with the station)? I haven't been there since the renovations were completed.

On a related note, what (in your esteemed opinions) is the 'best' way to get a group of approximately eleven between Heathrow and St Pancras? 'Best' meaning combination of inexpensive and fairly quick - our flight lands at noon and we plan to take a 16:25 train. We could just take the tube, but I didn't know if hiring a car service like Just Airports would be a better idea.

Thanks!

With that many people I would take the Heathrow Express to Paddington, then the Hammersmith and City line, or the Circle Line to Kings Cross/St Pancras. Or check with Just Airports for a quote.

As for where to meet...you could meet at the entry to the Eurostar, or at the Champagne Bar in St Pancras.

If your plane does land at 12, and if there are no major queues at immigration or hitches dealing with (let's imagine)the one person in your party who can't find their passport (or something similar), you might have time to go via the Piccadilly Line (no changes, which may be an issue with that many people to herd). You could leave the Heathrow Express option for the emergency delay (if, say, you're still in baggage reclaim at 2.30pm), since it's that much more expensive.

As for meeting at St Pancras, whichever tube line you use will bring you out at a lower level concourse, which you have to go through to get to the national trains to the Midlands. It's lined with shops and cafés.

It's called The Arcade on the national rail PDF map of the station:
http://www.stpancras.com/UploadDocs/...ember%2007.pdf

(also available at:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/SPX.html)

If you do get some sort of minibus for everyone, then you'd most likely be coming at one of the side entrances, by what's called The Circle on this map.

I'd suggest fixing on one of the cafés as a meeting point, and whatever you plump for, give everyone a copy of the map suitably marked; it might be worth making sure there are mobile phones in play, as well.

I absolutely wouldn't ever, ever, ever, get the H&C from Paddington to Kings Cross with luggage. The connection at Paddington involves an unpleasant staircase which it's practically impossible to get luggage down. And since the one staircase that accesses the tube platform isn't segregated directionally, twelve of you struggling down at once will inevitably cause friction with people climbing up. From about 1500-1930, this gets slow, frustrating for people in a hurry and rather dangerous.

The Circle Line connection at Paddington is just about London's least reliable, with frequent delays.

At 3 people per car, any use of the Heathrow Express will be pricier than Just Airports anyway. With 4.5 hours for the journey, there's really little point in any route other the Piccadilly Line, and I'd rarely have done anything else when I lived near Kings Cross. If really in a hurry, the ONLY reliable tube route from Paddington is the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus, then the NORTHBOUND Victoria Line to KX. If you're seriously delayed, the HEX/Bakerloo/Victoria line option is faster than a car.

However, Just Airports won't cost that much more than the tube. You might decide it's worth it to have the cars waiting in case of delay.

Not, BTW, that although there are lifts from the tube level to St Pancras, they hold at most four but really three people, are tricky to find and you need to change lifts to get up to the railway station level.The two lifts you're changing between are a long way from each other and are abysmally badly signed. If any of your party's likely to find stairs and luggage a problem, you ought to avoid the tube.

Thanks so much to all of you! I think I will at least get a quote from Just Airports - I'm not relishing the thought of getting everyone and their luggage to St Pancras on the tube, and flanner's point about a delay is right on. And I did figure that with a group, the Heathrow Connect or Express probably wouldn't be our best option either.

Patrick, that map is perfect - I'll print off copies and give it to everyone with their itineraries. Thank you so much!

I'm back with one more "just making sure" question. Since we'll have limited time, I'd love to know the lay of the land as much as I can before we arrive at the station. Is there a separate ticket office (or fast ticket machines) for domestic trains? All the ticket areas on the map seem to be designated for the Eurostar, unless I'm missing something.

The station details on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/SPX.html refer to the UK rail ticket office as being in the Circle area, which seems plausible, even if the map doesn't do anything so useful as to indicate it.

To find the UK ticket office, walk all the way along the station past all the shops and restaurants. After you pass the Taxi Exit on your left you will see some escalators going down. The UK ticket office is to the right of these. Signposted 'National Rail Tickets'.

Ah - I see now. I looked under "Ticket Buying and Collection" and just saw that they do indeed have the ticket machines - no location specified there. Sorry and thanks!