NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENT NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENT (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Accounting, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Organization and Basis of Presentation

The interim condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (Air Group or the Company) and its subsidiaries, Alaska Airlines, Inc. (Alaska) and Horizon Air Industries, Inc. (Horizon), through which the Company conducts substantially all of its operations. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) for interim financial information.

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.