I flew on a Lynx Air…
A320?
Okay, not quite, but for the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed this blue and
green Airbus A320 operating out of Calgary International Airport.
This plane belongs to a relatively new American charter airline, Global Crossing Airlines,
also called GlobalX.
Due to more 737 MAX delivery delays, much like last year, Lynx Air has wet leased this
single Airbus A320 for the summer, exclusively for some of their US flights out of Calgary.
Now what also makes this kind of unique is the fact that GlobalX is also involved with
another relatively new Canadian airline - Canada Jetlines.
The two airlines actually merged in 2020 in their respective start-up stages, and GlobalX
began flying in 2021, offering charter and aircraft leasing services.
They started with one Airbus A320, and their fleet has since grown to 12 A320 family aircraft.
Jetlines themselves later began their operations in 2022, after being spun out from GlobalX.
So, to recap: - You have a kinda unique lease arrangement
involving an all-Boeing operator and an A320, - Giving me the chance to fly on a lesser-known
American charter airline, with a strange Canadian connection,
- Flying relatively cheap routes out of Calgary?
Well, that sounds incredibly niche…
And therefore something that I had to try!
I used a couple of travel credits I had and booked myself a same day return from Calgary
to Los Angeles and back.
Why two flights on the same plane?
Well, I already stayed in LA with friends back in March so didn’t need the reminder
of our exchange rate.
Plus, this way I wouldn’t have to worry about making a connection to another airline
back home.
Lynx Air uses the check-in areas at the far end of the International check in hall.
I had already printed off my boarding passes at home, as you’re supposed to, so just
went straight through security, and to explain this nonsense to US Customs.
Fortunately they didn’t see an issue, and off I went to go buy some overpriced snacks.
Lynx doesn’t have any sort of food to purchase on board, and I knew this flight wouldn’t
be any different, so I made sure to stock up.
After walking down the length of Concourse E, our plane down to LA was parked over on
a remote stand for the time being, this 16-year-old Airbus A320-200 registered as November 628
Victor Alpha.
As you can tell by that registration, this plane first flew with Virgin America being
delivered in January of 2007.
It was later transferred to Alaska Airlines at the start of 2018, and flew with them until
the middle of 2020.
GlobalX later took delivery of it in June 2022, and it’s been flying with them since.
This is also not the first time I’ve flown a not-quite Lynx flight.
Back in July last year, I flew on a wet-leased Canadian North 737 on a flight from Calgary
to Victoria.
Back then, they were very communicative about that fact, both in an email and with announcements
on the plane.
This time around though, I didn’t get any emails like that.
That’s a bit of a shame because I thought that was a really effective way to communicate
the fact that your airplane does not say Lynx Air on it anywhere!
Then again, there’s nothing else to suggest that this isn’t a Lynx flight.
Except for, well…
“Yeah, that looks right”.
Boarding eventually started right on time, and interestingly, the gate agents were actually
policing priority boarding, which was good to see!
It was soon my turn to hop on board, so let’s go see what it’s like flying GlobalX!
My seat down to LA is the bulkhead row right in 1A.
The bulkhead row on these planes has the newer style of Airbus bulkhead, with just the clear
divider, but still plenty of space for me.
I quickly got comfortable as everybody else made their way on board.
The clear bulkhead is interesting though.
I’m used to the older ones on Air Canada’s A320s where they have a closet there instead.
Row 1 on the A320 also has the usual excellent view looking back at the wing.
The doors soon closed with 141 passengers on board, and we were off to California.
Here’s the departure from Calgary, with some of that classic A320 engine buzz
off of runway 35L.
After that beautiful, if not slightly bumpy departure over the city, here’s a better
look at the seat.
The bulkhead row is much the same as any other, with a tray table in the armrest that flips
open, slides, and rests at a decent height.
In the pocket in front was this very nice looking Global X A320 safety card,
and a generic air sickness bag.
Very shortly, the foothills of the Rockies appeared as the cabin crew started the typical
Lynx onboard service, giving out these cups of water.
To be fair, that’s not any different from any other time I’ve flown on Lynx, which
certainly makes catering easier!
It was a beautiful clear day across almost all of western North America and the views
couldn’t have been better!
I knew I was going to be well occupied for the rest of the flight.
Since catering on Lynx is very much “bring-your-own”, I grabbed some trail mix and a drink before
I left.
That, plus some downloaded episodes of one of my favourite YouTube series, Jet Lag, pretty
much had me set for the next little bit.
We made our way across the border and I took in the sights over Idaho.
It might just be me, but a clear day and interesting landscapes like this are the best sort of
in-flight entertainment I can have.
Those views only continued to impress as we flew further south, passing briefly into eastern
Oregon and Nevada.
I love flying over this part of the States, the scenery is just so different from what
I’m used to in Alberta.
Another water service took place around the halfway mark of the flight as we passed over
Naval Air Station Fallon in Western Nevada.
GlobalX’s A320s have a few different layouts depending on the plane.
On today’s flight, they had 180 seats in a standard all Economy configuration.
Interestingly though, they list this plane as having only 179, with one random seat in
the second last row missing.
I can confirm it is physically there.
The aft galley area is kind of interesting too.
Both aft lavatories are in the rear wall of the cabin, and there’s just a small galley
forward of that on the right side.
Those aft lavatories are surprisingly roomy, although not very brightly lit.
Back in my seat, the views did not quit as we passed over the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The seatbelt sign eventually came back on as we began our descent into Los Angeles.
Here’s the arrival into LAX, with some more great views of the city, landing on runway 24R.
So, with about an hour and a half on the ground here I needed to figure out what to do with myself.
Fortunately, Lynx Air uses the Tom Bradley International Terminal here at LAX, which
meant easy views of lots of interesting international visitors!
Plus, because you clear customs in Calgary, that means you’re basically treated as a
domestic flight upon arrival.
We parked at the newest part of TBIT, the West Gates, a satellite concourse connected
to the existing gates by a tunnel.
This new concourse opened just over two years ago, and it is a remarkably nice terminal.
It’s bright, open, and added some much-needed international capacity to the airport.
Some of the gates have fantastic close up views of planes too, including this Norse
Atlantic Airways 787, Saudia 777, and French Bee A350.
However, there were quite a few more parked over at the original TBIT gates.
Sadly I got as far as the escalators to walk through the tunnel when there was a terminal
wide announcement that boarding was starting early for the flight back to Calgary.
Not wanting to take any chances I quickly headed back up there.
With another 20 minutes I probably could’ve made it but I also wanted to go home to my
own bed tonight so back I went.
On this flight, I sat a bit further back in row 4.
Seat 4A was, predictably for an all-Economy A320, a little bit tight, but nothing I wasn’t
expecting!
It also became pretty clear how the turnaround was so quick.
I still had a great view out the window as we waited for the last couple of passengers.
I also realized that these seats are the same ones that Jetlines has on their A320s, which
are not the softest, but do get the job done.
In GlobalX’s type of work, specifically this sort of wet lease arrangement, it’s
not like they need to do too too much except have the airplane there when another airline
badly needs one!
Unfortunately, even with boarding half an hour early, they were still waiting for people
as we passed our original boarding time.
They still closed the door 15 minutes early so that was certainly a win!
What was even more of a win, was that I ended up with the whole row to myself!
We pushed back and taxied out to runway 24L right around sunset, and I knew we were in
for quite the golden hour once we got above the clouds!
Well that West Coast sunset did not disappoint in the least!
I’m glad that timing worked out like it did!
For this flight I pretty much just admired that sunset, settled in, and stretched out
for the next little while.
That included more downloaded videos and some hastily-purchased food and drink from the
terminal in LAX to keep me going until I got home.
More water was also given out twice during the flight.
Now, if you’re anything like me and you want to fly on one of these very oddly specific
flights yourself, they’re not too hard to find.
GlobalX seems to be flying exclusively between Calgary and Los Angeles and Calgary and Las
Vegas on various days of the week.
Lynx doesn’t exactly show you the aircraft type right on the flight selection page, but
if you go to the seat map and find one that has a full first row, plus exit rows at row
12 and 14, going up to a maximum of row 31, that’s a GlobalX A320.
For comparison, normal Lynx 737 seat maps have just half of a first row, and exit rows
at 15 and 16.
As of now, GlobalX will be operating for Lynx up until the middle of August.
That said, I could see them extending that if they don’t get another new plane by then.
Regardless, this seemingly pointless joyride was a fun way to try out a new airline that
you ordinarily wouldn’t be able to fly in scheduled service.
The early boarding in LA paid off too, as we ended up arriving at the gate in Calgary
almost 45 minutes early!
I know Lynx does pad their flight times quite a bit, but it was still good to see!
The GlobalX crew on board were all super friendly, if not a little confused as to why someone
would do this for fun.
Really though, it’s just kind of about sharing these sorts of unique aviation experiences
that normal people wouldn’t necessarily spend time on.
In just a couple years, the “time that Lynx leased an A320” will probably just be a
footnote in the history book of Canadian aviation, but that is why these random flights appeal
to me.
I do wish GlobalX all the best, and I’m glad I got to try them out once on a not-so-likely route!
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this trip report, and I will see you in the
next one!