Heathrow to York on day of arrival.

A walk-up standard class ticket from London to York will cost you £98.

A standard class Advance ticket bought today will cost £26.50 for the 2pm train on 22 August.

If you plane arrives at 10.00am then you should make the 2pm train. If your plane is late hmm…

https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

I would definitely go with advance purchase - you can save a TON that way.

As to timing. Assuming your flight arrives on time at 10, worst case scenario at passport control is 2 hours, so noon.

Heathrow to Kings Cross is 40 minutes and about 20.80gbp per person if you take the Heathrow Express and buy now.
It's an hour and about 12gbp/per person if you take the regular tube.
In either case, you arrive KGX around 1.

Looking at the National Rail, I'd say you would be cutting it too close for the 12.50gbp standard class advance fare leaving at 13:08, but certainly enough time for the 26.50gbp standard class advanced fare leaving at 14:00.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies! Follow up question; We are flying out of Heathrow on August 31. Should we consider round-trip tickets on the Heathrow Express if we decide to use that service?

forget the Heathrow Express it doesn't go to Kings Cross - you would need a further tube or taxi from Paddington to Kings Cross

Thanks for the correction, Emma. I was aiming for a high end and figured the cap would cover it.

And yes, R/O, Heathrow Express will get you to Paddington and the second figure I gave and Emma corrected will cover the tube transfer.

If you have three or more train rides on this trip (I think you're also going at least to Edinburgh and back to London), then you can consider a BritRail Pass, such as 3 travel days within a month for $267 per adult (or less if you have 3 or more people). This avoids the advance booking issue.

I'm curious why you think flying business class may shave a few minutes off immigration? Because you deplane quicker?

Buy your tickets in advance to save $'s and as Emma suggested consider a later train.

Claudia,

Premium passengers arriving at Heathrow, on some airlines, can go through a separate Fasttrack immigration line. It is usually faster since there are less people on it. I say usually because the last time I used it it still took 40 minutes.

Stephen,

I agree that trying to take a train before 1400 would not be wise. If your plane is late, there are problems on the tube line, etc. etc. etc.--you will lose your tickets.

Take Emma's advice. Book a later train and relax at Kings Cross. Either have a nice lunch there and skip train food all together or buy food for the train.

Frank II, thank you for the explanation, "with rank comes privilege."

Claudia - yes, we supposedly have fast track immigration but I've never used it before so I have no idea if it will actually save us time or not.
Ramblin, Hamlet, Emma,and Frank - I heeded your advice and purchased tickets on the 1508 train.
Laura - I had already purchased the Edinburgh - London tickets, so it was too late for the pass. I'll keep that in mind for the future though!

Thanks everyone!.

We did the land at LHR, then take the train to York a few years ago. I bought the train tickets well in advance and picked a train that left six hours after our arrival at LHR. This gave us a good time frame if the plane was late. Since it wasn't, we left our bags at left luggage which at that time was around the corner from Kings Cross and walked to the nearby British Library and toured the Treasures Room (allow an hour to do that.) Afterwards we had a pleasant lunch at St. Pancras train station which is across the street from Kings Cross.