A Southwest Airlines flight to San Diego just gave everyone onboard free Nintendo Switch consoles

When an airliner makes headlines these days, it probably won't be very good news for those involved. We give props to Southwest Airlines for bucking the trend this week by surprising every passenger onboard a recent domestic flight to San Diego a free Nintendo Switch console with a copy of Mario Maker 2 — no strings attached. Nintendo employees purportedly handed everyone their prizes as soon as they got off board.

Aside from just boosting PR, the stunt was also meant to advertise the fact that Southwest Airlines and Nintendo will be teaming up at San Diego Comic Con this weekend to run contests for attendees. As one of the best gaming devices you could take with you when traveling, the partnership makes a lot of sense for both parties.

Nintendo recently announced a Switch Lite and a minor internal refresh of the original Switch design that promises longer battery life than the OG model. We'll likely be hearing even more gaming announcements in the next few days as we move closer to SDCC 2019.