Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022: Day 2 – Los Angeles LAX to San Francisco SFO

By Nige on Sat 22 Jan 2022 at 19:18
Type: Post
Story: Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022
Tags: American Airlines | LAX | Los Angeles | San Francisco | SFO | Trips | USA

Into the lounge and AA were obviously continuing with some renovations; this time the other side of the Flagship Lounge was closed. [In my last TP Run (to Hawaii) the other half of the lounge was closed]

My flight to San Francisco was due to leave from Gate 159 in TBIT – the incoming flight had come from Mexico. By this point I was well knackered – two long flights and I was desperate to get into a hotel bed for the night, so I dozed most of the way to SFO. It’s only a short flight and we were on time, so I felt comfortable closing my eyes for a bit of a snooze. I did wake up to take a snap or two of the city as we came in on final approach.

Flight: BA5379 Equip: A319
Sched Depart: 20:00 Actual: 19:57
Sched Arrival: 21:23 Actual: 21:18
Takeoff: 20:21 Landing: 21:13

We arrived into Gate B22 of Terminal 1.  It’s a good 10 min walk to the central hub at SFO and I wanted to get my skates on.  At this time of the evening, the BART train schedule is fairly limited: there’s one train every 30 mins up until about 11pm, so I didn’t want to miss the 9:47 train.

Once I had left the baggage reclaim area, I turned left, went up an escalator and then turned right, following signs and I reached the BART terminus with about 15 mins to spare.  Plenty of time to use my newly installed Clipper Card app and Google Pay, to scan in and wait for the train to arrive.

Spoke to Vick – she had woken up back in the UK at around 5:30am. That just emphasizes how long I had been up for. I woke up shortly after 4am (UK time) and now it was over 24 hours later and I still hadn’t reached my destination.

The BART left on time and 10 stops later, I was at the Powell St BART station.  A 6 min walk and I was up on O’Farrell St and walking into the Hilton.  I was immediately accosted by a security man who asked to see my room key.  I was taken aback, but he was fine once I explained I needed to check in first! They were clearly looking out for anyone with a backpack/suitcase that couldn’t provide good reason for entering the hotel. Good on them! It makes me feel safer knowing they are challenging people.

Up to room 4275 for a skyline king room; the view was amazing with the room lights off. After chatting with Vick I finally turned the lights off at about 11pm.  I joked with Vick that I was not expecting to sleep beyond 2am due to the time difference.  I wonder what might happen!

Follow the whole story here: Tier Point Run to San Francisco in Jan 2022