Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022: Day 1 – Amsterdam AMS to London LHR

I wandered up and down an empty concourse at Amsterdam and then headed back to Gate D18 to wait for boarding to commence.  On the way back to Heathrow, I was back in my normal seat (01F).

When I walked through the galley, the cabin crew did a double-take and immediately asked whether I was doing a TP run – they are starting to catch on!  About time – 8 years after my first TP run and back in the day, they were completely clueless.

Taxiing took forever – almost 30 mins – I know that Schipol is a big airport, but we weren’t in a queue, we were constantly moving at a fair speed.

The evening meal on the way back to Heathrow comprised a chicken and coleslaw salad which was quite nice.  I had a bottle of champagne which wasn’t that nice.  I was offered a second bottle but had to say no.  I was then asked whether I wanted to take it off the plane.  I think that was their way of acknowledging my status. Nice touch but the champagne being offered just wasn’t worth it.

We arrived just about on time into Gate B44, but the airbridge broke down as the operator was trying to position it against the aircraft.  Consequently, there was a long delay and the captain declared that we would all need to deboard from the rear steps and then take a bus.  That meant a good 20 min delay.  I guess the only plus points were that business class got its own bus and we avoided the train back to arrivals!

When I finally got back to Arrivals, my passport failed the auto passport control kiosk again, so another trip for a manual check.  Luckily there was no one going through border control, so there was no hardship in taking that route.

From there, down to the Tube and I only needed to wait 2 mins before the train departed, heading into central London.  Two stops later I was off at Hatton Cross, 5 min walk down the road and I arrived at Hilton Garden Inn. 

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