Revenue

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

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,
	2021		2020
Domestic (U.S. and Canada)	$	2,111	$	5,078
Atlantic	410		1,215
Pacific	308		806
Latin America	392		880
Total	$	3,221	$	7,979

Advance Ticket Sales. All tickets sold at any given point in time have travel dates through the next 12 months. The Company defers amounts related to future travel in its Advance ticket sales liability account. The Company's Advance ticket sales liability also includes credits issued to customers on electronic travel certificates ("ETCs") and future flight credits ("FFCs"), primarily for ticket cancellations, which can be applied towards a purchase of a new ticket. In February 2021, the Company extended the expiration dates for all tickets issued between May 1, 2019 and March 31, 2021 to March 31, 2022. As of March 31, 2021, the Company's Advance ticket sales liability included $2.8 billion related to these ETCs and FFCs. The Company records breakage revenue on the travel date for its estimate of tickets that will expire unused. To determine breakage, the Company uses its historical experience with refundable and nonrefundable expired tickets and other facts, such as recent aging trends, program changes and modifications that could affect the ultimate expiration patterns of tickets. Given the uncertainty of travel demand caused by COVID-19, a significant portion of the ETCs and FFCs may expire unused in future periods and get recognized as breakage. The Company will update its breakage estimates as future information is received.

The Company is unable to estimate the amount of the ETCs and FFCs that will be used within the next 12 months and has classified the entire amount of the Advance ticket sales liability in current liabilities even though some of the ETCs and FFCs could be used after the next 12 months. Also, the Company is unable to estimate the amount of the March 31, 2021 Advance ticket sales that will be recognized in revenue in 2021 compared to amounts refunded to customers or exchanged into ETCs.

In the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized approximately $0.7 billion and $2.6 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, such as baggage fees, premium seat fees, inflight amenities fees 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 $308 million and $705 million of ancillary fees within passenger revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Frequent Flyer Accounting. The table below presents a roll forward of Frequent flyer deferred revenue (in millions):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2021		2020
Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue - beginning balance	$	5,975	$	5,276
Total miles awarded	272		559
Travel miles redeemed (Passenger revenue)	(123)		(322)
Non-travel miles redeemed (Other operating revenue)	(15)		(25)
Total Frequent flyer deferred revenue - ending balance	$	6,109	$	5,488

In the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized, in Other operating revenue, $362 million and $530 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. 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 liability. We determine the current portion of our frequent flyer liability based on expected redemptions in the next 12 months. Given the uncertainty in travel demand caused by COVID-19, we currently estimate a large percentage of award redemptions will occur beyond 12 months; however, this estimate may change as travel demand and award redemptions become clearer in future periods.