I was flying a very pleasant flight from Vegas to Seattle setting off just after dawn, clear skies and enjoying the view over the Rockies. I hadn’t taken any pics.
At about half way there were some minor pressurisation issues, my A320-200 was experiencing fluctuations in cabin pressure which were not normal. I investigated but they were not serious so we carried on for some time at FL380.
Then there was a sudden loss of pressure. Oxygen masks on, dial the altitude knob down, open descent, full speedbrakes. OK we are descending, dial the speed up to maximum to increase the descent rate, declare emergency, and check our descent altitude. We are over the rockies and the terrain display says 14,000 ft tops so 15,000 is our base for now.
BATC was very unhelpful, refused to acknowledge our emergency nor a mayday. Eventually I told it I was ready for descent, then it played along.
At 15,000 ft now and the cabin pressure is maintaining about 10,000 ft so not a total pressure loss and this is OK for our passengers. I checked and they all seemed pretty relaxed, one of them was still playing on his Nintendo Switch.
Not too far from Seattle, so we stepped down to 10,000 ft as terrain allowed and then flew a normal approach and landing.
All passengers safely deboarded. The plane has been handed over to maintenance because we were unable to figure out the cause during the flight.