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Revenue
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2024
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
REVENUE REVENUE
Revenue by Geography. The table below presents the Company's operating revenue by principal geographic region (as defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation) (in millions):
Three Months Ended March 31,
20242023
Domestic (U.S. and Canada)$7,673 $7,167 
Atlantic1,833 1,832 
Latin America1,445 1,316 
Pacific1,588 1,114 
Total$12,539 $11,429 
Advance Ticket Sales. The Company defers amounts related to future travel in its Advance ticket sales liability account. All tickets sold at any given point in time have travel dates through the next 12 months. The Company estimates the value of Advance ticket sales that will expire unused ("breakage") and recognizes revenue and any changes in estimates in proportion to the usage of the related tickets. To determine breakage, the Company uses its historical experience with expired tickets and certificates and other facts, such as recent aging trends, program changes and modifications that could affect the ultimate expiration patterns.
In the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized approximately $4.0 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively, of passenger revenue for tickets that were included in Advance ticket sales at the beginning of those periods.
Ancillary Fees. The Company charges fees, separately from ticket sales, for certain ancillary services that are directly related to passengers' travel. This includes fees for baggage, premium seats, inflight amenities and other ticket-related fees. These ancillary fees are part of the travel performance obligation and, as such, are recognized as passenger revenue when the travel occurs. The Company recorded $984 million and $892 million of ancillary fees within passenger revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Frequent Flyer Accounting. The table below presents a roll forward of Frequent flyer deferred revenue (in millions):
Three Months Ended March 31,
20242023
Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue - beginning balance$7,143 $6,675 
Total miles awarded840 747 
Travel miles redeemed(665)(531)
Non-travel miles redeemed(39)(31)
Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue - ending balance$7,279 $6,860 
In the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized, in Other operating revenue, $714 million and $646 million, respectively, related to the marketing, advertising, non-travel miles redeemed (net of related costs) and other travel-related benefits of the mileage revenue associated with our various partner agreements including, but not limited to, our JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. MileagePlus co-brand agreement. The portion related to the MileagePlus miles awarded of the total amounts received from our various partner agreements is deferred and presented in the table above as an increase to the Frequent flyer deferred revenue. We determine the current portion of that account based on expected redemptions in the next 12 months.