Allegiant Air Begins Service From Idaho Falls To Oakland

Anxious passengers crowded into the Idaho Falls Regional Airport, hoping to win a free seat on Allegiant’s first flight to Oakland, Calif.

In honor of the airline’s first flight to the San Francisco bay area, Allegiant hosted its “Pack Your Bags” contest, raffling off a free round-trip flight and hotel stay for two.

All entrants had to dress as a tacky tourist.

“I wanna go to California!” shouted Stacy Kurtti, who hoped to win the ticket.

Kurtti?s bright, patterned dress was certainly a departure from the norm at Idaho Falls Regional Airport.

“This is my niece’s little outfit here. My sister brought it for me,? Kurtti said, showing off her dress. ?I had the white (tennis shoes), though!”

“We’re dressed and ready to go,” said Sally Yocum, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt.

All hijinks aside, the winners were not the only ones benefiting from the new flight route.

“Northern California is a big market for coming up to Idaho and western Wyoming and the Tetons to vacation here,? said airport manager Len Nelson. ?So, it’s a big economic boost for us.”

Judging by Friday’s crowd, Nelson thinks the flight will be a big success.

“We anticipate a good amount of travel,” Nelson said, before emerging from his office to announce the winner.

“It’s pretty awesome,? said Kayla Esplin, after she found out she won. “I was at a conference at work and my husband calls me and says, ‘Hey, let’s try this free flight.’ And I said, ‘You’re crazy.’ So, we just decided to do it and grabbed our bags and ran over here!”

Esplin said that she and her husband really want to visit Alcatraz while in San Francisco, but they’re going to change out of their tacky tourist getups first.

Idaho Falls is one of six cities in the Northwest that began service to Oakland on Friday.