Nintendo and Southwest Airlines Surprise Fliers With Free Game Systems
Select Rapid Rewards Members Get In-Flight Nintendo Entertainment
REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintendo and Southwest Airlines are
giving some of the airline's most-traveled flyers a surprise gift, and we're
not talking peanuts here. Fifty of Southwest's Rapid Rewards Members have
been mailed a Nintendo DS(TM) Lite and a copy of Brain Age(TM): Train Your
Brain in Minutes a Day, marking the first time that Southwest has partnered
with an outside company to provide a special treat for Rapid Rewards Members.
The gifts are being offered both as a thank you and to help these travelers
pass the time during their next trip, which no doubt is coming up soon.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050516/NINTENDODSLOGO )
"We are helping our Members welcome the New Year with low fares, frequent
flights and, of course, exercise ... exercise for their mind while they
travel," said Blair McGrain, Director of Marketing Planning and Customer
Loyalty. "We are thrilled to partner with Nintendo to give our Members some
FUN in the New Year."
Selected by Southwest Airlines for their longtime loyalty and accumulated
miles, the Rapid Rewards Members who received the Nintendo DS and copy of
Brain Age have collectively flown more than 79.2 million miles, spent more
than 132,854 hours in the air and represent more than 600 years of membership.
Nintendo DS is the world's best-selling hand-held video game system, and
has sold nearly 7 million in the United States alone. DS has games for kids
and adults alike. Brain Age keeps users' minds active with sudoku puzzles,
memory quizzes and fun tests in reading and math. Rapid Rewards Members can
write their answers directly onto the touch screen of Nintendo DS and
stimulate their brains during their flights (as long as they remember to turn
off their portable electronic devices before takeoffs and landings).
"Nintendo DS has long been a favorite of travelers," says George Harrison,
Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate
communications. "Providing some of Southwest's premiere travelers with these
gifts helps us reach out to new audiences and shows that we make fun games for
everyone."
For eight straight years in a row, Southwest Airlines was honored with
first place for Best Award Redemption at InsideFlyer magazine's 18th annual
Freddie Awards. The airline has won this honor each of the eight years that
the magazine has awarded it. Along with the Best Award Redemption,
Southwest's other first-place honors include Program of the Year, Best Web
site and Best Bonus Promotion. Southwest Airlines serves 63 cities in
32 states with more than 3,200 flights per day.
The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment,
Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and
software for its Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance and Nintendo
GameCube(TM) systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.2 billion video
games and more than 387 million hardware units globally, and has created
industry icons like Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(R), Metroid(R), Zelda(TM) and
Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in
Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the
Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's
Web site at www.nintendo.com.
