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Revenue
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 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 September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
2024202320242023
Domestic (U.S. and Canada)$8,648 $8,379 $25,082 $23,963 
Atlantic3,432 3,543 8,542 8,604 
Latin America1,232 1,184 4,023 3,773 
Pacific1,531 1,378 4,721 3,751 
Total$14,843 $14,484 $42,368 $40,091 
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 subsequent 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 nine months ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized approximately $5.2 billion and $5.3 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 passenger 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 $1.1 billion and $3.3 billion of ancillary fees within passenger revenue in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, respectively. The Company recorded $1.1 billion and $3.0 billion of ancillary fees within passenger revenue in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively.
Frequent Flyer Accounting. The table below presents a roll forward of Frequent flyer deferred revenue (in millions):
Three Months Ended September 30,Nine Months Ended September 30,
2024202320242023
Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue - beginning balance$7,353 $7,024 $7,143 $6,675 
Total miles awarded884 816 2,643 2,465 
Travel miles redeemed(842)(740)(2,325)(1,983)
Non-travel miles redeemed(24)(24)(90)(81)
Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue - ending balance$7,371 $7,076 $7,371 $7,076 
In the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, the Company recognized, in Other operating revenue, $0.7 billion and $2.2 billion, 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 Company recognized $0.7 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively, in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, related to those agreements. 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 our estimate of expected redemptions in the next 12 months.