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Revenue
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Revenue Revenue
    Operating revenues is comprised of passenger revenues, which includes fare and non-fare revenues, and other revenues. The following table shows disaggregated operating revenues for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019.
Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2020201920202019
(in thousands)
Operating revenues:
Fare$164,432 $493,376 $549,648 $1,425,417 
Non-fare228,312 479,977 727,463 1,380,431 
Total passenger revenues392,744 973,353 1,277,111 2,805,848 
Other9,178 18,615 34,421 54,872 
Total operating revenues$401,922 $991,968 $1,311,532 $2,860,720 

The Company is managed as a single business unit that provides air transportation for passengers. Operating revenues by geographic region as defined by the Department of Transportation ("DOT") are summarized below:
Three Months Ended September 30, Nine Months Ended September 30,
2020201920202019
(in thousands)
DOT—Domestic$382,630 $880,868 $1,217,102 $2,526,016 
DOT—Latin America19,292 111,100 94,430 334,704 
Total$401,922 $991,968 $1,311,532 $2,860,720 
The Company defers the amount for award travel obligation as part of loyalty deferred revenue within air traffic liability ("ATL") on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets and recognizes loyalty travel awards in passenger revenues as the mileage credits are used for travel or expire unused.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company experienced significantly increased customer requests for credit shells, or customer travel funds held by the Company that can be redeemed for future travel, and refunds beginning in the second half of March 2020 and continuing through the third quarter of 2020 primarily due to flight cancellations and a change in the Company's flight cancellation and refund policy. The total value of refunds issued during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 were $29.8 million and $150.7 million, respectively.
The Company expects that the level of requests for credit shells and refunds in the upcoming months will continue to fluctuate and vary as the effects of COVID-19 continue to emerge. In addition, in response to COVID-19, the Company increased the expiration period on some of its credit shells from 60 days to 12 months and waived change and cancellation fees for the Guests who booked travel by October 31, 2020. As a result, the outstanding balance of the unused credit shells (which is recorded within ATL on the Company's condensed consolidated balance sheets), as of September 30, 2020, significantly exceeds the balance in the prior year period. As of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Company had ATL balances of $429.9 million and $315.4 million, respectively. Substantially all of the Company's ATL, including the balance of credit shells, is expected to be recognized within 12 months of the respective balance sheet date. Refer to Note 2, Impact of COVID-19, for further information on COVID-19's impact to the Company.
For credit shells that the Company estimates are not likely to be used prior to expiration (“breakage”), the Company recognizes the associated value proportionally during the period over which the remaining credit shells may be used. Breakage estimates are based on the Company's historical information about customer behavior as well as assumptions about customers' future travel behavior. Assumptions used to generate breakage estimates can be impacted by several factors including, but not limited to, changes to the Company's ticketing policies, changes to the Company’s refund, exchange, and credit shell policies, and economic factors. Given the unprecedented amount of cancellations in the current year and the related increase in credit shells provided, the Company expects additional variability in the amount of breakage revenue recorded in future periods, as the estimates of the portion of those funds that will expire unused may differ from historical experience.

Loyalty Programs

The Company operates the $9 Fare ClubTM (the “$9 Fare ClubTM”), which is a subscription-based loyalty program that allows members access to unpublished, extra-low fares as well as discounted prices on bags, exclusive offers on hotels, rental cars and other travel necessities. The Company also operates the Free Spirit loyalty program (the “Free Spirit Program”), which attracts members and partners and builds customer loyalty for the Company by offering a variety of awards, benefits and services. Free Spirit Program members earn and accrue miles for taking our flights and services from non-air partners such as retail merchants, hotels or car rental companies or by making purchases with credit cards issued by partner banks and financial services providers. Miles earned and accrued by Free Spirit Program members can be redeemed for travel awards such as free (other than taxes and government-imposed fees), discounted or upgraded travel.

The Company expects to launch a more expansive Free Spirit Program and $9 Fare ClubTM in January 2021. Starting January 2021, the benefits of the $9 Fare ClubTM will be expanded to include discounts on seats, shortcut boarding and security, and "Flight Flex" flight modification product.