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SPECIAL ITEMS SPECIAL ITEMS | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
SPECIAL ITEMS [Abstract] |
Unusual or Infrequent Items Disclosure [Text Block] | NOTE 10. SPECIAL ITEMS Special Mileage Plan Revenue In the third quarter of 2013, the Company modified its Affinity Card Agreement (Agreement) with Bank of America Corporation (BAC), through which the Company sells miles and other items to BAC and the Company's loyalty program members accrue frequent flyer miles based on purchases using credit cards issued by BAC. As a result of the execution of the Agreement, consideration received as part of this agreement is subject to Accounting Standards Update 2009-13, "Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements - a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force" (ASU 2009-13). The Company followed the rollforward transition approach of ASU 2009-13, which required that the Company's existing deferred revenue balance be adjusted to reflect the value, on a relative selling price basis, of any undelivered element remaining at the date of contract modification as if the Company had been applying ASU 2009-13 since inception of the Agreement. The relative selling price of the undelivered element (air transportation) is lower than the rate at which it had been deferred under the previous contract and the Company recorded a one-time, non-cash adjustment to decrease frequent flyer deferred revenue and increase Special mileage plan revenue. The amount recorded for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $192 million. Also during 2013, as part of the Company's ongoing evaluation of Mileage Plan program assumptions, the Company performed a statistical analysis of historical data, which refined its estimate of the amount of breakage in the mileage population. This new refinement enables the Company to better identify historical differences between certain of its mileage breakage estimates and the amounts that have actually been experienced. As a result, the Company increased its estimate of the number of frequent flyer miles expected to expire unused from 12% to 17.4%. Included in the Special mileage plan revenue item above is $44 million of additional revenue related to the effect of the change on the deferred revenue balance. Special Items In 2015, the Company recognized special items of $32 million in aggregate ($20 million after tax, or $0.15 per diluted share). The special items are comprised of the recognition of an expense of $14 million due to lump sum settlements offered to terminated, vested participants in the qualified defined benefit pension plans, and a litigation-related matter. See Note 7. Employee Benefit Plans for more information regarding the pension settlement charge. Refer to Note 7. Employee Benefit Plans for detailed information about the $20 million benefit related to the curtailment of certain postretirement benefit plans recognized in 2014. Furthermore, in 2014, we recorded a one-time gain of $10 million associated with the settlement of a legal matter.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for any additional information related to the determination or classification of material events or transactions (that would not reasonably be expected to recur in the foreseeable future) that possesses a high degree of abnormality and are incidentally related to, the ordinary and typical activities of the entity. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 225 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6365513&loc=d3e15138-107781 + Details
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