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SPECIAL ITEMS SPECIAL ITEMS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
SPECIAL ITEMS [Abstract]  
Unusual or Infrequent Items Disclosure [Text Block]
NOTE 11. SPECIAL ITEMS

Special Mileage Plan Revenue

In the third quarter of 2013, the Company modified its Affinity Card Agreement (Agreement) with Bank of America Corporation (BAC), through which the Company sells miles and other items to BAC and the Company's loyalty program members accrue frequent flyer miles based on purchases using credit cards issued by BAC. As a result of the execution of the Agreement, consideration received as part of this agreement is subject to Accounting Standards Update 2009-13, "Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements - a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force" (ASU 2009-13).

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. The relative selling price of the undelivered element (air transportation) is lower than the rate at which it had been deferred under the previous contract and the Company recorded a one-time, non-cash adjustment to decrease frequent flyer deferred revenue and increase Special mileage plan revenue. The amount recorded for the year ended December 31, 2013 was $192 million.

Also during the third quarter of 2013, as part of the Company's ongoing evaluation of Mileage Plan program assumptions, the Company performed a statistical analysis of historical data, which refined its estimate of the amount of breakage in the mileage population. This new refinement enables the Company to better identify historical differences between certain of its mileage breakage estimates and the amounts that have actually been experienced. As a result, the Company increased its estimate of the number of frequent flyer miles expected to expire unused from 12.0% to 17.4%. Included in the Special mileage plan revenue item above is $44 million of additional revenue related to the effect of the change on the deferred revenue balance.

Special Items

Refer to Note 8. Employee Benefit Plans for detailed information about the one-time benefit related to the curtailment of certain postretirement benefit plans. In the fourth quarter of 2014, we recorded a one-time gain of $10 million associated with the settlement of a legal matter.