Flight Critique: Allegiant Air Flight 1590 (PDX-IDA)

1.) Aircraft: Airbus A320. First time flying with Allegiant Air flight, third time overall experiencing an ultra low-cost carrier. Being that this is a flight on a ULCC, expectations had to be managed regarding the type of service from this airline and catered to my needs and travel style by paying for the extras on top of the base fare; in my case, I paid for seat selection as well as for a carry-on bag in order to utilize the overhead storage bin.

2.) Flight Time: Approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes

3.) Flight was relatively on-time, which was appreciated.

4.) Being a firm believer in the fact that flying commercial (whether it be full-service or low-cost carriers) is much more enjoyable with at least a drink to enjoy while en route, I "splurged" on myself by purchasing a drink from the buy-on-board menu since this was the start of a much-deserved (and frankly long-overdue!) vacation!

5.) Flight was full but given the short duration, it was tolerable. And the crew were pleasant people. Overall, the flight did it's job of getting me from Point A to Point B, which is what the primary task of any low-cost carrier should ALWAYS be!

Photos from the flight:

Allegiant Air Airbus A320-214 (N246NV), the plane that would fly me over to Idaho Falls arriving on its inbound flight from Provo as AAY1586. The plane and crew are Provo-based. I'm thrilled to get a chance to fly on one of the handful of new A320s Allegiant ordered directly from Airbus back in 2017! That being said, this airframe was built at Airbus' Toulouse manufacturing facility in France. Fun fact: N246NV was the first airframe from that handful of new A320s Allegiant got directly from Airbus!

N246NV taxiing up to the gate. It's still hard to believe that Allegiant is offering flights out of Portland, Oregon and flying routes and city-pairs that Alaska Airlines ought to be flying. In my opinion, that's indicative of the current market conditions and the type of reactions (or lack thereof!) from some of the more incumbent airlines serving PDX.

Airborne out of PDX and turning eastbound over Scappoose and Hillsboro.

View of Portland International Airport (PDX) on the left downwind climbing eastbound.

A view of Mount Saint Helens and Mount Rainier in the distance as we continued climb-out over the Columbia River Gorge.

The shot I was waiting for! Passing the south face of Mt. Hood as we left western Oregon behind.

Passing over central Oregon as we made our way over to Idaho.

Going into the Rockies region as we neared Boise.

Who needs in-flight entertainment when you got views like this?

Beginning descent near Sun Valley, Idaho.

A brief glimpse of the Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve near Arco and Carey as we approached the eastern Idaho region.

Beginning the turn for final approach onto Idaho Falls Regional Airport's Runway 21 with Rexburg's R-Mountain and the St. Anthony Sand Dunes visible in the distance!

Landing rollout on IDA's 21. After five years, I'm finally back in eastern Idaho!

Taxiing to the terminal after clearing the active. Flying as a passenger flying an airline, this is actually my first time flying into a smaller regional airport; my past trips with the airlines have always been flying in and out of large airports in major cities (ie. Las Vegas, Portland, Salt Lake City, etc.).

Parked at the gate, which ended up being a remote stand!

A look at N246NV after disembarking through one of IDA's non-jetbridge gates.

One more look at N246NV at the remote gate before turning around to go BACK to Portland as AAY3229. Airframe and crew are based in Provo and they started their day there to fly up to PDX, which then did a round-trip between PDX and IDA. After doing the return-leg to Portland, this airframe and crew will end their day in Provo. This shot was made possible because my uncle flew into IDA to pick me up to fly me the rest of the way to my final destination and I managed to get this shot as we taxied by the terminal. This was such a cool experience and this day was just getting started for me!