SMT ENTR SFO TCA. HAD BEEN TOLD TO REMAIN CLEAR.

Narrative

WHILE INBND TO OAK FROM RNO WHILE UNDER STAGE II/III SVCS UPON HDOF FROM 'STOCKTON APCH' TO 'BAY APCH' WAS INSTRUCTED; 'REMAIN CLR OF TCA. TURN LEFT HDG 180 DEG.' THEN WAS GIVEN MORE HDGS TO FLY IN ORDER TO REACH OAKLAND ARPT RWY 29. THROUGH COURSE OF FLT; COM WITH ATC I WAS GIVEN VECTORS TO '10 MI FINAL' (RWY 29) OR JOIN OVER HAYWARD ARPT. I PROCEEDED TO JOIN '10 MI FINAL' FOR RWY 29. UPON APCH TO OAK; CTLR ASKED 'VERIFY ALT;' AND I DID (3700'). THEN HE STATED; 'FLOOR TCA IN YOUR AREA 3000'. THEN INSTRUCTED ME TO CHANGE TO TWR. I FEEL THAT WHILE FOLLOWING HIS INSTRUCTIONS; I WASN'T GIVEN CLR ENOUGH INFO OR ALT ADVISORIES AND WAS NOT SURE THROUGH ALL VECTORS WHAT OUR TCA STATUS WAS. AFTER THE FIRST FEW VECTORS; I THOUGHT THAT WE WERE BEING PLACED IN TCA AIRSPACE BY SAID CTLR AND OPERATED ACCORDINGLY. AS OF THIS TIME; I'M STILL NOT SURE WHAT THE CTLR STATED WHEN HE ADVISED 'FLOOR TCA IN YOUR AREA 3000'. WAS HE SIMPLY GIVING ME INFO OR WAS IT A SUBTLE INDICATION OF 'NOT CLRED INTO TCA BUT IN TCA.'