Recently, Southwest Airlines reached 1 million followers on Instagram. I was shocked that they didn’t already have that many followers, but that’s beside the point. This is especially true as the milestone is why you can now enter to win 1 million Rapid Rewards points!
I was a bit surprised to learn that Southwest only recently hit the one million-follower milestone. However, after looking at the Instagram accounts of the largest airlines in the U.S., that appears to be the realm of the big three, with American, United, and Delta all having 1.2, 1.1, and 1.4 million followers, respectively. Hawaiian is way down at somewhere north of 500,000 followers, while Alaska has roughly 100,000 more.
With the above info, it does seem like this milestone is worthy of a big celebration, and boy, is this a big celebration! Do you know what you can do if you win 1 million Rapid Rewards points? Neither does Southwest’s social media team! 😉
You Could Win 1 Million Rapid Rewards Points!
To enter to win 1 million Rapid Rewards points, you need to do some things on Instagram – naturally. Specifically, you need to go to Southwest’s announcement post and leave a comment that includes the following:
- #OneMillionSWA
- #Sweepstakes
- Tag a friend
You must include all of the above, PLUS you must follow @southwestair on Instagram for your entry to be valid. The entry period runs through July 15, 2024, Central Time, with the drawing occurring on or around July 16, 2024. Winners will be contacted via direct message or email. Your account must be set to “unprotected” or “public” for validation purposes.
No alternate entry method is available. For the complete sweepstakes rules, you can visit southwest.com.
Prizes
You’ll note that I said “prizes” in the previous section. That’s because there are actually six prizes during this promotion. Yes, one winner will win 1 million Rapid Rewards points. However, five secondary winners will also get something. Specifically, five winners will receive $500 Southwest Airlines gift cards. While I’d love to get the 1 million points, I wouldn’t complain about winning a $500 gift card, either.
What Can 1 Million Points Get You?
Southwest’s loyalty program is revenue-based, so it’s hard to say precisely what you can get if you win 1 million Rapid Rewards points. However, here are some data points to help:
- HNL-LAS: roundtrip Wanna Get Away ranges from 42k to 145k points
- HNL-OGG: roundtrip Wanna Get Away ranges from 5,870 to 14,516 points
- HNL-LGB: roundtrip Wanna Get Away ranges from 29,540 to 51,446 points
If you calculate this out and round down, you could get 166 roundtrip tickets between Honolulu and Kahului, 33 roundtrip tickets between Honolulu and Long Beach, and 23 roundtrip tickets between Honolulu and Las Vegas. That’s A LOT of flying.
Of course, it’s worth reminding that you are on the hook for $5.60 in taxes and airport fees for each award segment.
Final Thoughts
The odds of winning this contest are, well, quite low. However, I think it’s still worth entering, as 1 million Rapid Rewards points can get you A LOT of travel within North and Central America. Like I said, I’d even love to have a $500 gift card, though that’ll get me much less free travel, even if I used it entirely within the islands.
Nevertheless, it’s fun to hypothesize what to do with so many miles. I’m sure I’d share some with family. However, I’d probably burn a bit hopping around the islands. But I’d also probably use a bit to bounce around the Continental U.S., specifically to visit places on my bucket list, such as Arches National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the Durango & Silverton Railroad, among others.
What would you do with 1 million Rapid Rewards miles?