Basis of Presentation (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the interim periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 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. 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, corporate travel budgets, natural disasters, and other factors beyond the Company's control. These and other factors, such as the price of jet fuel in some periods, the nature of the Company's fuel hedging program, and the periodic volatility of commodities used by the Company for hedging jet fuel, have created, and may continue to create, significant volatility in the Company's financial results. See Note 3 for further information on fuel and the Company's hedging program. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2018, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for future quarters or for the year ended December 31, 2018. 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, 2017.

Derivatives

Upon proper qualification, the Company accounts for its fuel derivative instruments as cash flow hedges. The Company adopted the New Hedging Standard as of January 1, 2018. See Note 2 for further information on this adoption. Under the New Hedging Standard, all periodic changes in fair value of the derivatives designated as hedges are recorded in AOCI until the underlying jet fuel is consumed. See Note 4. Prior to the adoption of the New Hedging Standard, ineffectiveness resulted when the change in the fair value of the derivative instrument exceeded the change in the value of the Company’s expected future cash outlay to purchase and consume jet fuel. To the extent that the periodic changes in the fair value of the derivatives were ineffective, the ineffective portion was recorded to Other (gains) losses, net, in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income in the period of the change. The Company's results are subject to the possibility that the derivatives will no longer qualify for hedge accounting, in which case any change in the fair value of derivative instruments since the last reporting period would be recorded in 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. When the Company has sold derivative positions in order to effectively "close" or offset a derivative already held as part of its fuel derivative instrument portfolio, any subsequent changes in fair value of those positions are marked to market through earnings. Likewise, any changes in fair value of those positions that were offset by entering into the sold positions and were de-designated as hedges are concurrently marked to market through earnings. However, any changes in value related to hedges that were deferred as part of AOCI while designated as a hedge would remain until the originally forecasted transaction occurs. 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 2017, or during the three months ended March 31, 2018.

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 New Hedging Standard also addresses targeted improvements to special hedge accounting for interest rate hedges. Though the Company will not be making any changes to the accounting for its current interest rate hedges as of the January 2018 adoption date, the New Hedging Standard provides the Company with more opportunities to achieve special hedge accounting for potential interest rate hedges in the future. Several of the Company's interest rate swap agreements 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 that do not qualify for the "shortcut" method of accounting, ineffectiveness is required to be measured at each reporting period. The ineffectiveness associated with all of the Company’s interest rate swap agreements for all periods presented was not material.

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, 2018, 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 and certificates of deposit), 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 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. 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 currently consist solely of option contracts, whereas interest rate derivatives consist solely of swap agreements. See Note 3 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.

New Accounting Pronouncements

On August 28, 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities (the "New Hedging Standard"). The New Hedging Standard amends the hedge accounting model to enable entities to better portray the economics of their risk management activities in the financial statements and enhance the transparency and understandability of hedge results. The New Hedging Standard also simplifies the application of hedge accounting in certain situations. The New Hedging Standard is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted in any interim or annual period. The Company elected to early adopt the New Hedging Standard as of January 1, 2018. The adoption was done on a prospective basis, as required. The most significant impacts of the New Hedging Standard on the Company's accounting are the elimination of the requirement to separately measure and record ineffectiveness for all cash flow hedges in a hedging relationship, as well as a change in classification of premium expense associated with option contracts. Such premium expense for the Company's fuel hedges was previously reflected as a component of Other (gains) losses, net, in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, but under the New Hedging Standard is reflected as a component of the line item to which the hedge relates, which is Fuel and oil expense. As such, the classification of premium expense for the three months ended March 31, 2017, has been reclassified in order to be comparative with current period results in the accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income. The impact of the cumulative effect of the adjustment to move the reporting of ineffectiveness as of January 1, 2018, to AOCI from Retained earnings, was a $20 million loss, net of taxes. The adoption and resulting reclassification had no impact on the Company's net income, earnings per share, or cash flows.

On March 10, 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-07, Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost (the "New Retirement Standard"). The New Retirement Standard requires employers to present the service cost component of the net periodic benefit cost in the same income statement line item as other Employee compensation costs arising from services rendered during the period. The other components of net benefit cost, including amortization of prior service cost/credit, and settlement and curtailment effects, are to be included in nonoperating expenses. As required by the New Retirement Standard, the Company adopted this guidance retrospectively as of January 1, 2018, using a practical expedient which permitted the Company to use the amounts disclosed in its pension and other postretirement benefit plan note for the prior comparative periods as the estimation basis for applying the retrospective presentation requirements. As such, the Company reclassified $3 million of Salaries, wages, and benefits expense to Other (gains) and losses under the New Retirement Standard in the accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended March 31, 2017. The adoption and resulting reclassification had no impact on the Company's net income, earnings per share, or cash flows.

On February 25, 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (the "New Lease Standard"). The New Lease Standard is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The New Lease Standard requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability on the balance sheet for all leases (with the exception of short-term leases) at the lease commencement date and recognize expenses on the income statement in a similar manner to the current guidance in Accounting Standards Codification 840, Leases ("ASC 840"). The lease liability will be measured at the present value of the unpaid lease payments and the right-of-use asset will be derived from the calculation of the lease liability. Lease payments will include fixed and in-substance fixed payments, variable payments based on an index or rate, reasonably certain purchase options, termination penalties, fees paid by the lessee to the owners of a special-purpose entity for restructuring the transaction, and probable amounts the lessee will owe under a residual value guarantee. Lease payments will not include variable lease payments other than those that depend on an index or rate, any guarantee by the lessee of the lessor’s debt, or any amount allocated to non-lease components.

The Company has formed a project team to evaluate and implement the New Lease Standard, and currently believes the most significant impact of the New Lease Standard on its accounting will be the balance sheet impact of its aircraft operating leases, which will significantly increase assets and liabilities. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had 53 leased aircraft under operating leases and also had another 76 aircraft under operating leases that are being subleased to another airline. As of March 31, 2018, the net present value of future rents for those aircraft was approximately $900 million. This amount only includes contractual payments due to lessors, and does not consider certain items that the New Lease Standard requires to be assessed in determining the final asset and liability to be reflected on the Company's balance sheet, such as lease renewal options and potential impairments, nor does it consider the sublease income that is due from third parties. The Company also has operating leases related to terminal operations space and other real estate leases. Although the real estate leases will also have a substantial impact to the balance sheet, the Company does not expect the leases related to terminal operations space to have a significant impact since variable lease payments, other than those based on an index or rate, are excluded from the measurement of the lease liability. The Company also does not expect the adoption of the New Lease Standard to impact any of its existing debt covenants.

In addition, the New Lease Standard eliminates the current build-to-suit lease accounting guidance and could result in derecognition of build-to-suit assets and liabilities that remained on the balance sheet after the end of the construction period. The underlying leases for these facilities will be subject to evaluation under the New Lease Standard. See Note 7 for further information on the Company’s build-to-suit projects.

The Company is evaluating the recently affirmed proposal which provided an optional transition method for adoption of the New Lease Standard, which would allow entities to continue to apply the legacy guidance in ASC 840, including its disclosure requirements, in the comparative periods presented in the year of adoption. The Company plans to adopt the New Lease Standard on January 1, 2019, and will continue to provide updates to its plans in future periods.

On May 28, 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (the "New Revenue Standard"), also referred to as Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue From Contracts With Customers ("ASC 606"), which replaces numerous revenue recognition requirements in GAAP, including industry-specific requirements, and provides companies with a single revenue recognition model for recognizing revenue from contracts with Customers. The New Revenue Standard establishes a five-step model whereby revenue is recognized as performance obligations within a contract are satisfied in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to receive in exchange for satisfaction of those performance obligations, or standalone selling price. The New Revenue Standard also requires new, expanded disclosures regarding revenue recognition. See Note 5 for further information. The Company has adopted the provisions of the New Revenue Standard on January 1, 2018, using the retrospective method. As such, results for the three months ended March 31, 2017, have been recast under the New Revenue Standard in order to be comparative with current period results in the accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income and Cash Flows. The amounts in the accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2017, have also been recast.

The most significant impact of the New Revenue Standard relates to the accounting for the Company’s loyalty program. The New Revenue Standard eliminated the incremental cost method for loyalty program accounting, which was previously allowed in prior accounting guidance. The Company is now required to account for the liability for points earned using a relative fair value approach.

The New Revenue Standard also resulted in different income statement classification for certain types of revenues (primarily ancillary revenues) which were previously classified as Other revenues, but under the New Revenue Standard are included in Passenger revenues, and certain expenses, which were previously classified as Other operating expenses, but under the New Revenue Standard are offset against Passenger revenues.

The following table provides the impact of applying the New Revenue Standard to the Company’s previously reported balances as of December 31, 2017:



	Balance as of December 31, 2017
(in millions)	As Reported		New Revenue Standard			As Recast
Accrued liabilities	$	1,777	$	(77	)	$	1,700
Air traffic liability	3,460		35			3,495
Air traffic liability - loyalty noncurrent	—		1,070			1,070
Deferred income taxes	2,358		(239		)	2,119
Retained earnings	14,621		(789		)	13,832

The impacts of applying the New Revenue Standard, the New Retirement Standard, and the New Hedging Standard to the Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended March 31, 2017, are as follows:



	Three months ended March 31, 2017
(in millions), except per share amounts	As Reported		New Revenue Standard			New Retirement Standard			New Hedging Standard			As Recast
Passenger revenue	$	4,424	$	122		$	—		$	—		$	4,546
Other revenue	417		(151		)	—			—			266
Salaries, wages, and benefits	1,733		—			(3		)	—			1,730
Fuel and oil expense	922		—			—			34			956
Other operating expenses (a)	696		(8		)	—			—			688
Other (gains) losses, net	94		—			3			(34		)	63
Provision for income taxes	202		(9		)	—			—			193
Net income	351		(12		)	—			—			339
Net income per share, basic	0.57		(0.02		)	—			—			0.55
Net income per share, diluted	0.57		(0.02		)	—			—			0.55

(a) The Company reclassified $54 million from Aircraft rentals to Other operating expenses in the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income for the three months ended March 31, 2017, to be comparative with current period's presentation. See Note 1 for further information.

The impact of applying the New Revenue Standard to the Company’s unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2017, are as follows (amounts may not recalculate due to rounding):



	Three months ended March 31, 2017
(in millions)	As Reported		New Revenue Standard			As Recast
Net income	$	351	$	(12	)	$	339
Deferred income taxes	62		(9		)	54
Changes in certain assets and liabilities	874		21			894
Net cash provided by operating activities	1,625		—			1,625

Revenue Recognition

The Company is also required to collect certain taxes and fees from Customers on behalf of government agencies and remit these back to the applicable governmental entity on a periodic basis. These taxes and fees include foreign and U.S. federal transportation taxes, federal security charges, and airport passenger facility charges. These items are collected from Customers at the time they purchase their tickets, but are not included in Passenger revenue. The Company records a liability upon collection from the Customer and relieves the liability when payments are remitted to the applicable governmental agency.

The balance in Air traffic liability – passenger travel and ancillary passenger services also includes unused funds that are available for use by Customers that are not currently associated with a ticket, but represent funds available for use to purchase a ticket for a flight that occurs prior to their expiration. These funds are typically created as a result of a prior ticket cancellation or exchange. These performance obligations are expected to have a duration of twelve months or less; therefore, the Company has elected the provision within ASC 606 to not disclose the amount of the remaining transaction price and its expected timing of recognition for passenger tickets. Recognition of revenue associated with the Company’s frequent flyer liability can be difficult to predict, as the number of award seats available to members is not currently restricted and they could chose to redeem their points at any time that a seat is available. The performance obligations classified as a current liability related to the Company’s frequent flyer program were estimated based on expected redemptions utilizing historical redemption patterns, and forecasted flight availability, fares, and coefficients. The entire balance classified as Air traffic liability – loyalty noncurrent relates to frequent flyer points that were estimated to be redeemed in periods beyond 12 months following the representative balance sheet date. The Company expects the majority of frequent flyer points to be redeemed within two years.

In order to determine the value of each frequent flyer point, certain assumptions must be made at the time of measurement, which include the following:


•	Allocation of Passenger Revenue - Revenues from Passengers related to travel who also earn Rapid Rewards Points has been allocated between flight and Rapid Rewards Points based on each obligation’s relative standalone selling price. The Company utilizes historical earning patterns to assist in this allocation.

•

Fair Value of Rapid Rewards Points is determined from the base fare value of tickets which were purchased using prior point redemptions for travel and other products and services, which the Company believes to be indicative of the fair value of points as perceived by Customers and representative of the value of each point at the time of redemption. The Company’s booking site allows a Customer to toggle between fares utilizing either cash or point redemptions, which provide the Customer with an approximation of the equivalent value of their points. The value can differ however, based on demand, the amount of time prior to the flight, and other factors. The fare mix during the period measured represents a constraint, which could result in the assumptions above changing at the measurement date, as fare classes can have different coefficients used to determine the total frequent flyer points needed to purchase an award ticket. The mixture of these fare classes could cause the fair value per point to increase or decrease.

For points that are expected to expire unused, the Company recognizes spoilage in accordance with the redemption method. The Company utilizes historical behavioral data to develop a predictive statistical model to analyze the amount of spoilage expected for points sold to business partners and earned through flight. The Company continues to evaluate expected spoilage at least annually and applies appropriate adjustments in the fourth quarter of each year, which impacts revenue recognition prospectively through the redemption method. In most historical periods, the impact of changes in the estimated spoilage rate has not resulted in material changes to revenue recognition. However, due to the size of the Company’s liability for frequent flyer benefits as a result of the elimination of the incremental cost method of accounting for flight points, changes in Customer behavior and/or expected future redemption patterns could result in more significant variations in Passenger revenue under the New Revenue Standard.

ASC 606 requires the Company to allocate consideration received to performance obligations based on relative fair value of those obligations. The Company has a co-branded credit card agreement (“Agreement”) with Chase Bank USA, N.A. (“Chase”), through which the Company sells loyalty points and other items to Chase. At inception of this Agreement, the Company estimated the selling prices and volumes over the term of the Agreement in order to determine the allocation of proceeds to each of the deliverables (travel points to be awarded, and marketing components, which consist of use of the Southwest Airlines’ brand and access to Rapid Rewards Member lists, advertising elements, and use of the Company’s resource team). The Company has elected the transition provision within ASC 606 to reflect the aggregate effect of historical modifications to the Agreement when (i) identifying the satisfied and unsatisfied performance obligations, (ii) determining the transaction price, and (iii) allocating the transaction price to the satisfied and unsatisfied performance obligation. The Company records Passenger revenue related to air travel when the travel is delivered. The marketing elements are recognized as Other revenue when earned following the sales-based royalty method.

All performance obligations related to freight services sold are completed within twelve months or less; therefore, the Company has elected the provision within ASC 606 to not disclose the amount of the remaining transaction price and its expected timing of recognition for freight shipments.

Other revenues primarily consist of marketing royalties associated with the Company’s co-branded Chase^® Visa credit card, but also include commissions and advertising associated with Southwest.com^®. All amounts classified as Other revenues are paid monthly, coinciding with the Company fulfilling its deliverables; therefore, the Company has elected the provision within ASC 606 to not disclose the amount of the remaining transaction price and its expected timing of recognition for such services provided.

Schedule of Derivative Instruments in Statement of Financial Position, Fair Value

The following table presents the location of all assets and liabilities associated with the Company’s derivative instruments within the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet:



		Asset derivatives				Liability derivatives
	Balance Sheet	Fair value at		Fair value at		Fair value at		Fair value at
(in millions)	location	3/31/2018		12/31/2017		3/31/2018		12/31/2017
Derivatives designated as hedges (a)
Fuel derivative contracts (gross)	Prepaid expenses and other current assets	$	145	$	112	$	—	$	—
Fuel derivative contracts (gross)	Other assets	195		136		—		—
Interest rate derivative contracts	Other noncurrent liabilities	—		—		24		20
Total derivatives designated as hedges		$	340	$	248	$	24	$	20
Derivatives not designated as hedges (a)
Fuel derivative contracts (gross)	Prepaid expenses and other current assets	$	23	$	35	$	23	$	35
Interest rate derivative contracts	Accrued liabilities	—		—		1		1
Interest rate derivative contracts	Other noncurrent liabilities	—		—		—		1
Total derivatives not designated as hedges		$	23	$	35	$	24	$	37
Total derivatives		$	363	$	283	$	48	$	57

(a) Represents the position of each trade before consideration of offsetting positions with each counterparty and does not include the impact of cash collateral deposits provided to or received from counterparties. See discussion of credit risk and collateral following in this Note.