Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Delta Air Lines, Inc. and our wholly owned subsidiaries and have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP") for interim financial information. Consistent with these requirements, this Form 10-Q does not include all the information required by GAAP for complete financial statements. As a result, this Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Management believes the accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements reflect all adjustments, including normal recurring items, considered necessary for a fair statement of results for the interim periods presented.

Due to seasonal variations in the demand for air travel, the volatility of aircraft fuel prices and other factors, operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of operating results for the entire year.

We reclassified certain prior period amounts to conform to the current period presentation. Unless otherwise noted, all amounts disclosed are stated before consideration of income taxes.

Recent Accounting Standards

Recent Accounting Standards

Standards Effective in Future Years

Revenue from Contracts with Customers. In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)." The standard is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Under this ASU and subsequently issued amendments, revenue is recognized at the time a good or service is transferred to a customer for the amount of consideration received. Entities may use a full retrospective approach or report the cumulative effect as of the date of adoption. We expect to use the full retrospective transition method and will adopt the standard effective January 1, 2018.

While we believe the adoption will not have a significant effect on earnings, certain revenues that are currently classified in other revenue will be reclassified to passenger revenue. These include baggage fees, administrative charges and other travel-related fees, which may be deemed part of the single performance obligation of providing passenger transportation. We expect that these revenues, which are approximately $2 billion annually, will be reclassified from the current presentation in other revenue to passenger revenue after adoption.

In addition, we expect that the adoption will increase the rate used to account for frequent flyer miles. We currently analyze our standalone sales of mileage credits to other airlines and customers to establish the accounting value for frequent flyer miles. Considering the guidance in the new standard, we expect to change our valuation of a mileage credit to an analysis of the award redemption value. The new valuation will consider the quantitative value a passenger receives by redeeming miles rather than paying cash for an award ticket. We expect this change to significantly increase our frequent flyer liability. The mileage deferral and redemption rates would be approximately the same; therefore, assuming stable volume, we do not expect there would be a significant change in revenue recognized from the program. We continue to evaluate this and the other impacts to the financial statements due to the adoption of the new standard.

Leases. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, "Leases (Topic 842)." This standard will require all leases with durations greater than twelve months to be recognized on the balance sheet and is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018.

We have not completed our assessment, but the adoption of this standard will have a significant impact on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. However, we do not expect the adoption to have a significant impact on the recognition, measurement or presentation of lease expenses within the Consolidated Statements of Operations or the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. Information about our undiscounted future lease payments and the timing of those payments is in Note 7, "Lease Obligations," in our Form 10-K. We will adopt this standard effective January 1, 2019.

Statement of Cash Flows. In 2016, the FASB issued ASU Nos. 2016-15 and 2016-18 related to the classification of certain cash receipts and cash payments and the presentation of restricted cash within an entity's statement of cash flows, respectively. These standards are effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. We will adopt these standards effective January 1, 2018. We do not expect these standards to have a material impact on our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

Financial Instruments. In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, "Financial Instruments—Overall (Subtopic 825-10)." This standard makes several changes, including the elimination of the available-for-sale classification of equity investments, and requires equity investments with readily determinable fair values to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income. It is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017. We will adopt this standard effective January 1, 2018.

Our investments in GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, the parent company of VRG Linhas Aéreas (operating as GOL), and China Eastern are currently accounted for as available-for-sale with changes in fair value recognized in other comprehensive income. At the time of adoption, any amounts in accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss) ("AOCI") related to equity investments would be reclassified to retained earnings. As of September 30, 2017, an unrealized gain of $49 million related to these investments is recorded in AOCI.

Retirement Benefits. In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-07, "Compensation—Retirement Benefits (Topic 715)." This standard requires an entity to report the service cost component in the same line item as other compensation costs. The other components of net (benefit) cost will be required to be presented in the income statement separately from the service cost component and outside a subtotal of income from operations. This standard is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. We will adopt the standard effective January 1, 2018. The components of the net (benefit) cost are shown in Note 6, "Employee Benefit Plans."

Recently Adopted Standards

Equity Method Investments. In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-07, "Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323)." This standard eliminates a previous requirement that an investor must restate its historical financial statements when an existing cost method investment qualifies for use of the equity method as if the equity method had been used since the investment was acquired. Under the new guidance, at the point an investment qualifies for the equity method, any unrealized gain or loss in AOCI will be recognized through earnings. We adopted this standard in 2016 and converted our investment in Group Aeroméxico to the equity method upon completion of the tender offer for additional capital stock during the March 2017 quarter.