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Basis of Presentation (Policies)
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of Southwest Airlines Co. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for complete financial statements. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the interim periods ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 include all adjustments which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods. This includes all normal and recurring adjustments and elimination of significant intercompany transactions, but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements. Financial results for the Company and airlines in general can be seasonal in nature. In many years, the Company's revenues, as well as its operating income and net income, have been better in its second and third fiscal quarters than in its first and fourth fiscal quarters. Air travel is also significantly impacted by general economic conditions, the amount of disposable income available to consumers, unemployment levels, and corporate travel budgets. These and other factors, such as the price of jet fuel in some periods, the nature of the Company's fuel hedging program, the periodic volatility of commodities used by the Company for hedging jet fuel, and the requirements related to hedge accounting, have created, and may continue to create, significant volatility in the Company's financial results. See Note 5 for further information on fuel and the Company's hedging program. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ended December 31, 2013. For further information, refer to the Consolidated Financial Statements and footnotes thereto included in the Southwest Airlines Co. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012.

Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation. In the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended March 31, 2012, the Company has reclassified $7 million from Other revenues to Passenger revenues associated with its sale of frequent flyer benefits from its co-branded Chase® Visa credit card.
New Accounting Pronouncements
On December 16, 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") ratified Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2011-11, “Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities.” The new disclosure requirements mandate that entities disclose both gross and net information about instruments and transactions eligible for offset in the statement of financial position, as well as instruments and transactions subject to an agreement similar to a master netting arrangement. In addition, the standard requires disclosure of collateral received and posted in connection with master netting agreements or similar arrangements. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning on or after January 1, 2013, and the Company adopted this ASU during first quarter 2013. This ASU did not have a material effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations, but did change the Company's disclosure policies for financial derivative instruments. See Note 5.

On February 5, 2013, the FASB ratified ASU No. 2013-02, "Reporting of Amounts Reclassified Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income." The new disclosure requirements mandate that entities report, in one place, information about reclassifications out of Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) ("AOCI"). The standard requires disclosure of the amount of the reclassification and the effect of the reclassification on the income statement line item. Upon adoption, the reclassification disclosures must be presented, in one place, either parenthetically on the face of the statement where net income is presented or in the notes. This ASU is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning on or after December 15, 2012, and the Company adopted this ASU during first quarter 2013. This ASU did not have a material effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations, but did change the Company's disclosure policies for amounts reclassified out of AOCI. The Company has elected to disclose the reclassification requirements in Note 6.
Derivatives
Upon proper qualification, the Company accounts for its fuel derivative instruments as cash flow hedges.  Generally, utilizing hedge accounting, all periodic changes in fair value of the derivatives designated as hedges that are considered to be effective are recorded in AOCI until the underlying jet fuel is consumed.  See Note 6.  To the extent that the periodic changes in the fair value of the derivatives are ineffective, the ineffective portion is recorded to Other (gains) losses, net, in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income.  Likewise, if a hedge ceases to qualify for hedge accounting, any change in the fair value of derivative instruments since the last reporting period is recorded to Other (gains) losses, net, in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income in the period of the change; however, any amounts previously recorded to AOCI would remain there until such time as the original forecasted transaction occurs, at which time these amounts would be reclassified to Fuel and oil expense. In a situation where it becomes probable that a fuel hedged forecasted transaction will not occur, any gains and/or losses that have been recorded to AOCI would be required to be immediately reclassified into earnings.  The Company did not have any such situations occur during 2012 or during the three months ended March 31, 2013.
The Company is party to certain interest rate swap agreements that are accounted for as either fair value hedges or cash flow hedges, as defined in the applicable accounting guidance for derivative instruments and hedging. The interest rate swap agreements accounted for as fair value hedges qualify for the “shortcut” method of accounting for hedges, which dictates that the hedges are assumed to be perfectly effective, and, thus, there is no ineffectiveness to be recorded in earnings.  For the Company’s interest rate swap agreements accounted for as cash flow hedges, ineffectiveness is required to be measured at each reporting period.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Accounting standards pertaining to fair value measurements establish a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value.  These tiers include: Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets; Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.

As of March 31, 2013, the Company held certain items that are required to be measured at fair value on a recurring basis.  These included cash equivalents, short-term investments (primarily treasury bills, commercial paper, and certificates of deposit), certain noncurrent investments, interest rate derivative contracts, fuel derivative contracts, and available-for-sale securities.  The majority of the Company’s short-term investments consist of instruments classified as Level 1.  However, the Company has certificates of deposit, commercial paper, and Eurodollar time deposits that are classified as Level 2, due to the fact that the fair value for these instruments is determined utilizing observable inputs in non-active markets.  Noncurrent investments consist of certain auction rate securities, primarily those collateralized by student loan portfolios, which are guaranteed by the U.S. Government. Other available-for-sale securities primarily consist of investments associated with the Company’s excess benefit plan.

The Company’s fuel and interest rate derivative instruments consist of over-the-counter contracts, which are not traded on a public exchange.  Fuel derivative instruments include swaps, as well as different types of option contracts, whereas interest rate derivatives consist solely of swap agreements.  See Note 5 for further information on the Company’s derivative instruments and hedging activities.  The fair values of swap contracts are determined based on inputs that are readily available in public markets or can be derived from information available in publicly quoted markets.  Therefore, the Company has categorized these swap contracts as Level 2.  The Company’s Treasury Department, which reports to the Chief Financial Officer, determines the value of option contracts utilizing an option pricing model based on inputs that are either readily available in public markets, can be derived from information available in publicly quoted markets, or are provided by financial institutions that trade these contracts. The option pricing model used by the Company is an industry standard model for valuing options and is the same model used by the broker/dealer community (i.e., the Company’s counterparties). The inputs to this option pricing model are the option strike price, underlying price, risk free rate of interest, time to expiration, and volatility. Because certain inputs used to determine the fair value of option contracts are unobservable (principally implied volatility), the Company has categorized these option contracts as Level 3. Volatility information is obtained from external sources, but is analyzed by the Company for reasonableness and compared to similar information received from other external sources. The fair value of option contracts considers both the intrinsic value and any remaining time value associated with those derivatives that have not yet settled. The Company also considers counterparty credit risk and its own credit risk in its determination of all estimated fair values. To validate the reasonableness of the Company’s option pricing model, on a monthly basis, the Company compares its option valuations to third party valuations. If any significant differences were to be noted, they would be researched in order to determine the reason. However, historically, no significant differences have been noted. The Company has consistently applied these valuation techniques in all periods presented and believes it has obtained the most accurate information available for the types of derivative contracts it holds.
All settlements from fuel derivative contracts that are deemed “effective” are included in Fuel and oil expense in the period the underlying fuel is consumed in operations.  Any “ineffectiveness” associated with hedges, including amounts that settled in the current period (realized), and amounts that will settle in future periods (unrealized), is recorded in earnings immediately as a component of Other (gains) losses, net.  See Note 5 for further information on hedging.  Any gains and losses (realized and unrealized) related to other investments are reported in Other operating expenses and were immaterial for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012.