[dblacc]

In the situation you are travelling with a kid who is eligible for free travel, rather than going through the barriers you should've just spoken to the the person on duty. Theres always at least 1 person standing by one of the barriers that would let you through.. takes like 5 seconds longer but doesn't involved getting munched :)

[pbhjpbhj]

Not always, I looked. I imagine if you're familiar with the stations you can do that without being stampeded, getting lost, etc..