diff --git a/observability-test/database.ts b/observability-test/database.ts
index b14813cce..5da43c37e 100644
--- a/observability-test/database.ts
+++ b/observability-test/database.ts
@@ -1565,6 +1565,137 @@ describe('Database', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('runTransactionAsync', () => {
+    const SESSION = new FakeSession();
+    const TRANSACTION = new FakeTransaction(
+      {} as google.spanner.v1.TransactionOptions.ReadWrite
+    );
+
+    let pool: FakeSessionPool;
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      pool = database.pool_;
+      (sandbox.stub(pool, 'getSession') as sinon.SinonStub).callsFake(
+        callback => {
+          callback(null, SESSION, TRANSACTION);
+        }
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('with no error', async () => {
+      const fakeValue = {};
+
+      sandbox
+        .stub(FakeAsyncTransactionRunner.prototype, 'run')
+        .resolves(fakeValue);
+
+      const value = await database.runTransactionAsync(async txn => {
+        const result = await txn.run('SELECT 1');
+        await txn.commit();
+        return result;
+      });
+
+      assert.strictEqual(value, fakeValue);
+
+      await provider.forceFlush();
+      await traceExporter.forceFlush();
+      const spans = traceExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+      withAllSpansHaveDBName(spans);
+
+      const actualSpanNames: string[] = [];
+      const actualEventNames: string[] = [];
+      spans.forEach(span => {
+        actualSpanNames.push(span.name);
+        span.events.forEach(event => {
+          actualEventNames.push(event.name);
+        });
+      });
+
+      const expectedSpanNames = ['CloudSpanner.Database.runTransactionAsync'];
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(
+        actualSpanNames,
+        expectedSpanNames,
+        `span names mismatch:\n\tGot:  ${actualSpanNames}\n\tWant: ${expectedSpanNames}`
+      );
+
+      // Ensure that the span actually produced an error that was recorded.
+      const firstSpan = spans[0];
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        SpanStatusCode.UNSET,
+        firstSpan.status.code,
+        'Unexpected span status'
+      );
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        undefined,
+        firstSpan.status.message,
+        'Unexpected span status message'
+      );
+
+      const expectedEventNames = ['Using Session'];
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(
+        actualEventNames,
+        expectedEventNames,
+        `Unexpected events:\n\tGot:  ${actualEventNames}\n\tWant: ${expectedEventNames}`
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('with error', async () => {
+      const ourException = new Error('our thrown error');
+      sandbox
+        .stub(FakeAsyncTransactionRunner.prototype, 'run')
+        .throws(ourException);
+
+      assert.rejects(async () => {
+        const value = await database.runTransactionAsync(async txn => {
+          const result = await txn.run('SELECT 1');
+          await txn.commit();
+          return result;
+        });
+      }, ourException);
+
+      await provider.forceFlush();
+      await traceExporter.forceFlush();
+      const spans = traceExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+      withAllSpansHaveDBName(spans);
+
+      const actualSpanNames: string[] = [];
+      const actualEventNames: string[] = [];
+      spans.forEach(span => {
+        actualSpanNames.push(span.name);
+        span.events.forEach(event => {
+          actualEventNames.push(event.name);
+        });
+      });
+
+      const expectedSpanNames = ['CloudSpanner.Database.runTransactionAsync'];
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(
+        actualSpanNames,
+        expectedSpanNames,
+        `span names mismatch:\n\tGot:  ${actualSpanNames}\n\tWant: ${expectedSpanNames}`
+      );
+
+      // Ensure that the span actually produced an error that was recorded.
+      const firstSpan = spans[0];
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        firstSpan.status.code,
+        SpanStatusCode.ERROR,
+        'Unexpected span status'
+      );
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        firstSpan.status.message,
+        ourException.message,
+        'Unexpected span status message'
+      );
+
+      const expectedEventNames = ['Using Session'];
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(
+        actualEventNames,
+        expectedEventNames,
+        `Unexpected events:\n\tGot:  ${actualEventNames}\n\tWant: ${expectedEventNames}`
+      );
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('runStream', () => {
     const QUERY = {
       sql: 'SELECT * FROM table',
diff --git a/observability-test/spanner.ts b/observability-test/spanner.ts
index 93300a1ad..fe8460aa0 100644
--- a/observability-test/spanner.ts
+++ b/observability-test/spanner.ts
@@ -468,6 +468,52 @@ describe('EndToEnd', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it('runTransactionAsync', async () => {
+      const withAllSpansHaveDBName = generateWithAllSpansHaveDBName(
+        database.formattedName_
+      );
+      await database.runTransactionAsync(async transaction => {
+        const [rows] = await transaction!.run('SELECT 1');
+      });
+
+      traceExporter.forceFlush();
+      const spans = traceExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+      withAllSpansHaveDBName(spans);
+
+      const actualEventNames: string[] = [];
+      const actualSpanNames: string[] = [];
+      spans.forEach(span => {
+        actualSpanNames.push(span.name);
+        span.events.forEach(event => {
+          actualEventNames.push(event.name);
+        });
+      });
+
+      const expectedSpanNames = [
+        'CloudSpanner.Snapshot.runStream',
+        'CloudSpanner.Snapshot.run',
+        'CloudSpanner.Database.runTransactionAsync',
+      ];
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(
+        actualSpanNames,
+        expectedSpanNames,
+        `span names mismatch:\n\tGot:  ${actualSpanNames}\n\tWant: ${expectedSpanNames}`
+      );
+
+      const expectedEventNames = [
+        'Transaction Creation Done',
+        'Acquiring session',
+        'Cache hit: has usable session',
+        'Acquired session',
+        'Using Session',
+      ];
+      assert.deepStrictEqual(
+        actualEventNames,
+        expectedEventNames,
+        `Unexpected events:\n\tGot:  ${actualEventNames}\n\tWant: ${expectedEventNames}`
+      );
+    });
+
     it('writeAtLeastOnce', done => {
       const withAllSpansHaveDBName = generateWithAllSpansHaveDBName(
         database.formattedName_
diff --git a/src/database.ts b/src/database.ts
index ba46d691d..c770b0c8e 100644
--- a/src/database.ts
+++ b/src/database.ts
@@ -3363,46 +3363,56 @@ class Database extends common.GrpcServiceObject {
 
     let sessionId = '';
     const getSession = this.pool_.getSession.bind(this.pool_);
-    const span = getActiveOrNoopSpan();
-    // Loop to retry 'Session not found' errors.
-    // (and yes, we like while (true) more than for (;;) here)
-    // eslint-disable-next-line no-constant-condition
-    while (true) {
-      try {
-        const [session, transaction] = await promisify(getSession)();
-        transaction.requestOptions = Object.assign(
-          transaction.requestOptions || {},
-          options.requestOptions
-        );
-        if (options.optimisticLock) {
-          transaction.useOptimisticLock();
-        }
-        if (options.excludeTxnFromChangeStreams) {
-          transaction.excludeTxnFromChangeStreams();
-        }
-        sessionId = session?.id;
-        span.addEvent('Using Session', {'session.id': sessionId});
-        const runner = new AsyncTransactionRunner<T>(
-          session,
-          transaction,
-          runFn,
-          options
-        );
-
-        try {
-          return await runner.run();
-        } finally {
-          this.pool_.release(session);
-        }
-      } catch (e) {
-        if (!isSessionNotFoundError(e as ServiceError)) {
-          span.addEvent('No session available', {
-            'session.id': sessionId,
-          });
-          throw e;
+    return startTrace(
+      'Database.runTransactionAsync',
+      this._traceConfig,
+      async span => {
+        // Loop to retry 'Session not found' errors.
+        // (and yes, we like while (true) more than for (;;) here)
+        // eslint-disable-next-line no-constant-condition
+        while (true) {
+          try {
+            const [session, transaction] = await promisify(getSession)();
+            transaction.requestOptions = Object.assign(
+              transaction.requestOptions || {},
+              options.requestOptions
+            );
+            if (options.optimisticLock) {
+              transaction.useOptimisticLock();
+            }
+            if (options.excludeTxnFromChangeStreams) {
+              transaction.excludeTxnFromChangeStreams();
+            }
+            sessionId = session?.id;
+            span.addEvent('Using Session', {'session.id': sessionId});
+            const runner = new AsyncTransactionRunner<T>(
+              session,
+              transaction,
+              runFn,
+              options
+            );
+
+            try {
+              return await runner.run();
+            } catch (e) {
+              setSpanError(span, e as Error);
+              throw e;
+            } finally {
+              span.end();
+              this.pool_.release(session);
+            }
+          } catch (e) {
+            if (!isSessionNotFoundError(e as ServiceError)) {
+              span.addEvent('No session available', {
+                'session.id': sessionId,
+              });
+              span.end();
+              throw e;
+            }
+          }
         }
       }
-    }
+    );
   }
 
   /**