Southwest launches Make-A-Wish check-in promo

For each check-in on Facebook Places, Southwest will donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish foundation

I’ve been avoiding mobile check-in apps like Foursquare and Facebook Places for a very specific reason: I tend to flake on people.  A lot.  And my biggest fear is that I’ll tell someone that I can’t meet up for drinks because I’m sick, and then totally forget that I flaked on that person and end up checking in at a bar or a restaurant with other friends.  I’m the type of person to do something like that.  But now Southwest is going to make me feel bad about that…

Starting Friday, Southwest Airlines will be donating $1 to the Make-A-Wish foundation for every check-in on Facebook Places at a Southwest airport.  The promotion lasts from November 26 to December 25 and caps off at $300,000.

For those who don’t know, the Make-A-Wish foundation grants “wishes” for children with life-threatening medical conditions, such as cancer.  The organization has been around since 1980 and has partnered with a number of other major brands this holiday season, including Macy’s, which is running a promotion in which the company will donate $1 for every letter to Santa that is dropped into the Macy’s “Santa Mail” boxes, up to $1 million.  The Disney Store has also been running a promotion for the last month whereby $1 for every sale of a reusable holiday Disney shopping bag goes to the Make-A-Wish foundation.

In a similar move, Starbucks recently teamed up with Facebook to offer a promotion whereby $1 is donated to Conservation International (an environmental protection organization) for every Facebook Places check-in at a Starbucks location.  When I first read that, I start calculating up the millions upon millions of dollars that the ever-ubiquitous Starbucks would be pouring into Conservation International through such a promotion, and then I read that the promotion caps off at $75,000.  I know $75K is nothing to sneeze at, but it still kind of bummed me out a little.

What this all comes down to is the fact that I have to start checking in.  So if I tell you that I can't meet you for drinks after work, and then you see that I've checked in at the Starbucks across the street, don't give me crap about it. I'm being charitable. 

Image source: Southwest.com