Southwest Airlines is today celebrating its 50th anniversary, as the beloved airline operated its first flight on June 18, 1971. The airline celebrated this special occasion with an event for employees.
During this event, Southwest unveiled a Boeing 737-800 in a special new “Freedom One” livery, with a stylized flag of the United States of America, intended to honor veterans and those currently serving.
On top of that, Southwest offered a gift of 50,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points to all 56,000+ employees. Employees who choose to accept this gift will have them deposited in their accounts later this year. If every employee were to accept this gift, we’d be talking about 2.8 billion additional Rapid Rewards points in circulation.
How much are Rapid Rewards points worth?
How much is this gift of Rapid Rewards points worth? Rapid Rewards is a revenue based frequent flyer program, and it takes about 83 points to redeem for one dollar of airfare. In other words, 50,000 Rapid Rewards points could get you roughly $600 worth of airfare on Southwest. If all employees were to accept the gift, that would be about $34 million worth of airfare.
