RTW TP Run in Jan 2026: Day 22 – Los Angeles (LAX) to London Heathrow (LHR)

By Nige on February 8, 2026 at 10:49 pm
Type: Post
Story: Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026 Category: Travel
Tags: British Airways | Hilton | LAX | LHR | London Heathrow | Los Angeles

The countdown to getting home continued. This was my final flight of the first phase of the trip — and the last one before I was reunited with my beloved wife and best friend.

I arrived at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) after a long walk in the sun from my hotel, grateful for every scrap of shade I could find along the way.

The boarding pass printed by American Airlines the day before didn’t have TSA Pre✓ printed on it, so I was hoping the British Airways app might finally prove useful by generating a version of the boarding pass with that critical information included.

To be blunt, the BA app is rubbish and has never really delivered anything meaningful for me — but I was hoping for a miracle.

After a few error messages and some perseverance, it finally worked. I downloaded a BA boarding pass that allowed me to use the faster TSA Pre✓ security process.

Through security at TBIT, I then walked over to the AA Flagship Lounge in Terminal 4 and secured a key for a shower.

The American Airlines showers sit somewhere between the awful BA showers at Heathrow and the top-notch facilities you find in the Middle East. But they were clean — and that was enough to leave me feeling refreshed for the journey home.

I was finally able to put on my special “clean” clothes for my reunion with the missus at Heathrow.

To tide me over until eating on board, I sampled the three desserts on offer in the lounge.

Wow. All three were stunning: a chocolate mousse with berry granola crunch, a passion-fruit panna cotta and an apple crumble parfait.

After rubbing my tummy in satisfaction, I headed down to Gate 157. As I approached, I heard my name being called for a document check.

All good. I asked about Group 0 boarding, although I wasn’t convinced the agent really understood what Group 0 actually meant.

I wandered away and parked myself next to the Priority Boarding lanes marker, with about fifteen minutes to go before boarding was due to start.

Just two minutes later, my name was called again over the tannoy.

What have I done wrong now?

Good news, said the gate agent: “You’ve been upgraded to First Class. Seat 02K.” Yay!

Back to my waiting position, suddenly aware that my final flight had just become even better than expected.

On the downside, this aircraft featured the new Club Suite — which raised the obvious question: why couldn’t they have upgraded me on my flight to LAX almost three weeks earlier, when I’d had to endure the old Club World herringbone layout?

Crikey. First-world problems, eh?

Amazingly — and for the first time ever — when families with young children and passengers needing extra time were called, Group 0 was also invited to board.

That meant I was the first passenger on the aircraft. That’s how priority boarding should work.

On into seat 02K, and the good news continued: this aircraft had the new First Class suite, not the older version.

I started with a Bucks Fizz and admired the nicely coloured amenity kit.

The movie selection was excellent: Contact, Zodiac, The Green Mile, Argo, and Pulp Fiction. I started with Contact.

I was introduced to three different members of the cabin crew, including the Cabin Services Manager — a nice bloke with possibly the narrowest face I’ve ever seen.

Slippers were offered. Another Bucks Fizz followed. Well… if you insist.

We pushed back five minutes early — a promising start — but the good progress didn’t last.

About fifteen minutes later, we taxied onto the runway… and then straight off again.

The captain explained there was a technical issue which he hoped would take only five minutes to resolve, but it meant we couldn’t depart at that point.

We ended up taxiing to remote stand 409. After a slightly unceremonious U-turn and some confusion about positioning, we eventually parked correctly.

To his credit, the captain did an excellent job keeping everyone informed, providing updates roughly every fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile, I watched the ExpertFlyer status as the ETD and ETA crept further and further out.

The cabin crew kept First Class passengers well topped up with drinks during the delay.

Eventually, engineers applied a fix and needed to board to run a test from the cockpit.

During this time, the passenger in 01K decided he needed to get off due to an important meeting the following morning — entirely fair.

I assumed alternative travel had been arranged. His partner, seated in Business Class, also disembarked.

A bus was organised to take them back to the terminal. Fortunately, they had no checked luggage.

The engineer’s cockpit test was successful, paperwork was completed, and we were cleared to depart.

Unfortunately, another passenger then decided he also wanted to get off — and he had luggage in the hold. The first officer attempted to sweet-talk him into staying, but in the end he disembarked and his luggage remained onboard.

There had been a real risk the flight could have been cancelled if the ground crew had been forced to locate and offload that bag.

By this point, I’d consumed four Bucks Fizzes, so I sensibly switched to tea for drink number five. Any more and I risked embarrassing myself.

Finally — after a four-hour delay — we were ready to go. The projected arrival at Heathrow was now just under four hours late.

Back onto the runway… and this time we actually took off, heading home to Blighty.

Once back to normal service, I noticed that the forward First Class lavatory was noticeably larger than on previous BA 777-300s I’d flown. That extra space made a big difference.

Dinner service began with a substantial amuse-bouche.

The starter was a prawn dish, which was excellent.

For my main, I chose the Cajun-spiced chicken, which was lovely. At that point, I threw in the towel and asked for my bed to be made up.

I managed about five hours of sleep in two phases, which I was very happy with.

While awake, I started looking into whether UK261 compensation might apply due to the technical delay.

Initial information suggested that RTW tickets were in scope. ExpertFlyer showed a ZO delay, indicating an operational issue — which would qualify for compensation.

At the time, I was uncertain about the timing thresholds.

One source suggested flights delayed between three and four hours only attracted 50% compensation, with the full £520 payable after four hours. That later turned out to be incorrect — but I didn’t know that then.

Breakfast was served about two hours before arrival. I started with the energiser smoothie — excellent, with a real ginger kick.

That was followed by muesli with yoghurt, fresh fruit and a croissant.

Then came the pièce de résistance: brioche bread-and-butter pudding with custard. Superb.

I started tracking Vick as she drove down the M4 in Bobby. She’d left fairly early. I just hoped she hadn’t made a sign or something to greet me at Heathrow.

We agreed to meet in Arrivals. There was going to be a very big hug. Vick was already there, enjoying a coffee at Caffè Nero.

The landing at Heathrow was smooth, and the captain promised a slick arrival at one of the B gates. Having experienced “slick arrivals” before, I was sceptical.

As it turned out, we were briefly held up by another aircraft pushing back from Gate B37. To save time, we taxied the wrong way down a taxiway, doubled back, and slipped onto stand before the other aircraft had been uncoupled from its tug.

We arrived at Gate B37, and I’ve never seen an airbridge attach so quickly.

The aircraft door opened at 13:59:47.

Thirteen seconds later, British Airways might have tried to argue that only 50% compensation was payable.

On later investigation, it became clear that under UK261, for flights over 3,500km, the full £520 compensation is payable once the delay exceeds three hours.

Excellent.

Next up: A gallery of photos from Day 22 of my Round The World trip of a lifetime.

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Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026