GENERAL AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

GENERAL AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

GENERAL AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

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. 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 the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. In the opinion of management, all adjustments have been made that are necessary to present fairly the Company’s financial position as of March 31, 2013, as well as the results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012. The adjustments made were of a normal recurring nature.

In preparing these statements, the Company is required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent liabilities, as well as the reported amounts of revenues and expenses. Due to seasonal variations in the demand for air travel, the volatility of aircraft fuel prices, changes in global economic conditions and other factors, operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of operating results for the entire year.

Reclassifications

Certain reclassifications have been made to conform the prior-year data to the current format. During the second quarter of 2012, the Company changed the classification of ancillary revenues, such as checked-bag fees, ticket change fees, and others, from "Passenger revenue" to "Other-net" revenue to enhance comparability of passenger revenue among peers in the industry. The Company has reclassified ancillary revenues in the current period and all prior periods, with the reclassification having no impact on total revenue for any of the respective periods. The table below shows operating revenues originally reported in the Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and the effect of the reclassification on the condensed consolidated statement of operations (in millions):

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2012
	As Reclassified		Reported
Operating Revenues
Passenger
Mainline	$	723	$	764
Regional	173		186
Total passenger revenue	896		950
Freight and mail	24		24
Other - net	119		65
Total Operating Revenues	$	1,039	$	1,039