FINALLY, I’m getting to the part where I’m flying somewhere on this trip. You’re going to get two of those posts this week, because it is Cranky Network Awards week. I am absolutely slammed with preparation for that, so you’ll get Viva today and Mexicana Thursday. I’ll be back with regular content next week.

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I was now past immigration and security, comfortably walking around the Tijuana airport for my domestic flight. I still had some time to kill before Viva would kick off the adventure in style with a very-nice ride on a pretty-empty airplane. The terminal has two concourses, both somewhat stubby with only 5 jet bridges each. My flight was on the first one, so I didn’t have far to walk. That means I could explore a little.

• Introduction to Cranky’s Mexican Adventure
• Cross Border Express is Great, But It Can Be Tricky
• Viva Kicks the Trip Off the Right Way
• Mexicana is Weird, But the E2 is a Delight
• The Spectacular But Distant AIFA Airport
• Mexico City is More Than Worth the Visit
• Aeromexico Does It Right in the Air but Not on the Ground
• Señor Air Has the Best Name and an Experience to Match
• Los Cabos and La Paz Couldn’t Be More Different
• TAR Was a Wild Ride
• Volaris, the Purest ULCC

I don’t know much about the origin of the Tijuana terminal, but it looks like it’s had some work done recently. It was open and airy with a lot of local stores that you may never have heard of like Panda Express, Starbucks, Subway, and Shake Shack.

My gate was further down, so I just grabbed a seat toward the base of the concourse and checked email using the free wifi, still having an hour until my flight. I then got up, bought a bottle of water, and meandered slowly to my gate.

I was at gate 18 which didn’t appear to actually exist. Toward the end of the concourse, I had to go downstairs where there were a couple of gates with ground boarding. This lower level had low ceilings, was dark, had no concessions, and it smelled. It’s almost like they just built a nice and new airport on top of the crappy old one.

They began boarding, and since I had purchased a Light fare for $135.38 that was also refundable (not a lesser Zero fare), I was in group 6. This was one of the slowest boarding processes I’ve ever seen. The agents kept getting distracted by people walking in from the ramp. I had no idea what was going on, but this didn’t seem like the normal boarding process. Eventually, I got my boarding pass scanned and walked outside. We then had to go down a walkway all the way toward the base of the concourse where our plane was wedged in. I guess they couldn’t fit a jet bridge, but they could fit an airplane. Also, there are no ramps to be found, so I hope nobody needed a wheelchair. I walked up the stairs and on to the plane.

Viva 5084
January 12, 2025

This was a very special airplane. When I looked the night before, I found that the registration was blocked from flight tracking services. It turns out that the airplane only joined the fleet in October after a long career with Tigerair and Scoot. Previously, this registration was used by a Gulfstream, and I guess Viva never unblocked it. Sadly, it was indeed an A320 and not a G550 that I boarded.

The airplane looked brand new on the inside with plain leather seats that had a recline button which was disabled, so they were pretty spartan as expected. I was surprised, however, to see that Viva has an inflight magazine. You don’t see those often anymore, especially on a low-cost carrier.

It was a very load light up front where you had to pay more for seat assignments — I paid to make sure I could get off quickly if my Mexicana connection ended up being really tight — but I didn’t pay for extra legroom. It was standard, and it was perfectly fine. The best part was that since I was in a more sparsely populated part of the airplane, I ended up with a coach flat bed and nobody near me. Sweet.

We pushed back a little early with all announcements in both Spanish and English. Then it was time for my favorite pasttime when flying in México… playing “spot the ancient aircraft.” In Tijuana there are a fair number of Aero California DC-9s. Aero California, as you may or may not know, went bust in 2008.

It was a very quick taxi out to the runway before we climbed into the clear yet bouncy morning sky. The pilots curiously never turned the seatbelt sign off, but when we hit a rough patch, they turned it on… doubly? I don’t know, but I could hear the chime. Then again, I heard a lot of chimes since someone kept dinging what I assume was a flight attendant call button but could have been something else. It happened regularly throughout the flight.

The flight attendants came through selling their goods, but I didn’t need anything. I just read a book and looked out the window as we passed what is still on rare occasion the point where the Colorado River flows into the Sea of Cortés.

It clouded up as we went further down, but it cleared as we approached the tropical cloud formations off Puerto Vallarta.

We approached from the north and then landed nice and early before… pulling up to a bus gate.

Fortunately with such a light load, nobody had to wait long. When we got dumped off, I asked where I could catch a connection. They told me to walk through the main door with everyone else. Unfortunately, that just went into baggage claim, and there was no way for me to stay airside.

That combined with the bus gate made me very nervous, but then I remembered we had landed so early that I’d be ok. I exited with everyone else and then went back upstairs to go through the security checkpoint again. It wasn’t very crowded, and by the time I was on the other side, I still had time to kill before my Mexicana ride.

Overall I enjoyed my Viva ride. The seats were perfectly fine for a relatively short flight, and the price was right to match.