Allegiant Air A319 San Diego, CA to Bellingham, WA

Allegiant Air A319 San Diego, CA to Bellingham, WA

To be honest, one of the biggest reasons for booking this flight on Allegiant was that I thought it would be operated with an MD-80. Those airplanes have been the backbone of the Allegiant fleet for years, but they’ve been pretty aggressive with the retirement of those birds in order to switch to newer (and far more fuel efficient) A319 and A320 aircraft.

Knowing that the MD-80’s days were numbered definitely played a large part in choosing to do this trip on this airline, so I was a little bit disappointed when I discovered that I would actually be flying on an A319 instead. I’m not even sure when Allegiant switched to the A319 on the Bellingham to San Diego route, but it must have been very recently because these were still MD-80 flights when I booked this reservation back in mid June.

Oh well – that’s nothing worth complaining about in the grand scheme of things, especially since I was certainly excited enough to fly a new (for me) airline out of San Diego. As a matter of fact, I’ve never even been to Bellingham before, so it would be a trip full of “firsts” for me. I love that kind of stuff!

G4 232
San Diego, CA (SAN) – Bellingham, WA (BLI)
Friday, July 31 2015
Aircraft: A319
Seat: 24F (economy)

Allegiant Air A319 N301NV side view
Allegiant Air A319 N301NV side view illustration by Norebbo.com
san diego to bellingham route map
Our route to BLI this evening: PEBLE5 SXC LAX J5 SEA PAE MADEE2
allegiant air boarding pass
My boarding pass

Before I get too far, I’d like to mention that I put together a short video showing the highlights of this flight. There is much more detail in the pictures and words below, but those of you with a short attention span might find the video more interesting:

And now, on with the pics (and words)!

The flight up to Bellingham was scheduled to depart just shy of 6pm, which meant that I was able to get a full day of work in before heading off to the airport. That might sound like a good thing, but I’m more of a morning person, and I hate waiting around all day to start an adventure. I definitely prefer to get going first thing in the morning! Again…oh well.

I did skip out of work a bit early to head down to the airport a lot earlier than necessary, but I actually find airports to be a relaxing place to hang out for a couple hours granted I can find a quiet corner to sit and chill somewhere.

arrivals level san diego airport
Walking into terminal 2 west at SAN, underneath the new second-level roadway
San Diego International Airport
I may be biased, but I think the San Diego International Airport is one of the best in the US
Allegiant Air check in
Allegiant Air check in counter in terminal 2 east

I wasn’t even sure what gate Allegiant used at SAN, but I knew it had to be somewhere at the end of terminal 2 east just like all of the other low-frequency airlines that serve this airport (Spirit, Volaris, Sea Port, etc). As a matter of fact, the flight didn’t even show up on the flight information boards inside the terminal until about an hour before departure, and that would have had me worried if it weren’t for the fact that the inbound flight was showing as “on time” on the arrivals board. So all I could do was just wander around and wait until the gate was posted.

waiting at the airport
That’s me, just killing time waiting to board the flight
peace and quiet at the airport
The airport was surprisingly quiet for a Friday afternoon – I thought it would be much busier
san diego airport overview
There wasn’t even anything going on out on the ramp
power outlets at every seat
But at least there are power outlets at every seat here at SAN, so I was able to stay charged before departure
inside san diego airport
I eventually decided to get up and wander around for a while. Sure is empty here!
terminal 2 west architecture
The architecture of terminal 2 west is really nice
animated overhead lights
The animated overhead lights are a nice touch. That “splotch” you see in the center is actually a silhouette of birds.
terminal 2 east san diego airport
By comparison, terminal 2 east isn’t as flashy
new seating area san diego airport terminal 2 east
But they have built some new restaurants and seating areas which are quite nice
san diego airport flight information boards
Have they posted the departure gate yet??

The departure gate ended up as being the dreaded “30”. I say dreaded because it’s the only gate in all of terminal 2 where it’s impossible to see any part of the airplane from inside the terminal. Not a big deal for 99.9% of all other passengers I’m sure, but I was hoping to get some nice pics of that bird parked at the gate. Once again…oh well.

 Allegiant Air A319 san diego
The arrival of our Allegiant Air A319
gate 30 san diego
Nothing to see at the gate except for the flight information board
boarding at gate 30 san diego airport
I’m going to be a very happy guy once terminal 2 east is demolished – space is tight in here!

I had pre-purchased “priority boarding” when I reserved my ticket, and there was only one other person that approached the gate when they announced priority boarding. I thought that was interesting – the flight was completely full this evening, but nobody felt like spending a few extra dollars to board early except for me and one other person.

boarding allegiant air A319 san diego
Nice close up view of this A319 before stepping onboard
2nd to board the plane
Missed being the first to board by only one other person

Once onboard with my butt firmly wedged into the tiny slim line seat, I was thinking that there were no surprises here – seating was uncomfortable and really tight. Was it really necessary to think it would be any different on Allegiant? Other than that, the rest of the interior was typical A319.

tight seat pitch allegiant air
Legroom is tight on Allegiant Air!
cramped seating allegiant air
A closer look at the tight seat pitch
Overhead bins
Overhead bins
allegiant air boarding process
Waiting for other passengers to board
small tray tables
One of the many drawbacks to the slim line seat is the small tray tables
Tray table in the open position
Tray table in the open position

Our departure was delayed about 20 minutes or so due to fueling “issues” – all the captain said was that there was some discrepancy in what they asked for and what they actually received, so they had to spend the time to sort that out. I’m a firm believer in making sure the math is correct when it comes to airplanes and fuel, so I didn’t mind the delay at all. Please – take all the time you need to make sure things are legit up there in the cockpit!

rolling out to runway 27
Finally underway and rolling out to runway 27

The marine layer was starting to roll in off the ocean once we were on our way, so I didn’t get to see much of San Diego on the climb out. But the weather had completely cleared up by the time we reached Los Angeles and those of us on the right side of the airplane were treated with amazing views of the entire LA basin.

san diego marine layer
Marine layer staring to roll in off the ocean just as we departed
view of los angeles from the air
Flying directly over top of Los Angeles

The remainder of our flight up to the Pacific Northwest this evening was largely uneventful, other than the fact that the caesar salad I purchased in the terminal at SAN right before boarding was far too smelly to eat on an airplane. As soon as I opened the box, I realized I was going to be “that guy” if I proceeded to eat it right then – so I closed it up as fast as I could and put it away as a courtesy to my fellow passengers. Dinner would have to wait.

A319 winglet
Closeup of the winglet on this A319
wide angle a319 interior photo
Wide angle view of the cabin

There were some amazing views out the window once we reached Oregon and Washington, and my eyes (and camera) were glued to the window the entire time. It was a magnificent arrival into BLI that evening.

amazing in flight views
Always a treat to fly over the Pacific Northwest on a clear evening!
pacific northwest mountain peaks
Is that incredible, or what?

Here’s a video of the entire landing procedure (descent, landing, and taxi to the gate):

Speaking of arriving into BLI, I was really amazed at how small that airport was. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a very nice and modern facility, but I didn’t expect that we would be deplaning from air stairs and walking across the ramp to the terminal. No, that’s not a complaint! It was a pleasant surprise actually as it’s pretty rare these days to get an up close and personal look at large commercial aircraft. I took the best pics I could despite the darkness and the fact that they were trying to herd everyone inside as quickly as possible.

deplaning at bellingham airport
Arrival at Bellingham – I was able to deplane from the rear of the aircraft, which made this aviation nerd quite happy!
Allegiant Air A319
Allegiant Air A319 parked at the gate at Bellingham Washington
One last look at this bird before walking into the terminal building
Allegiant Air A319 sitting at the gate in Bellingham Washington

So, that was my first flight on Allegiant Air. What did I think? Well…it was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be. As a matter of fact, I’d rate it right on par with Spirit Airlines in terms of the overall experience, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They gave me exactly what I paid for (a safe, comfortable flight with all the perks I chose up front), and there’s really nothing to complain about that.

One Response

  1. Jake

    October 24, 2017

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