New Accounting Pronouncements (Policies) |
9 Months Ended |
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Sep. 30, 2025 | |
| Accounting Standards Update and Change in Accounting Principle [Abstract] | |
| Basis of Presentation | The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company and its subsidiaries have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP") for complete financial statements as required in Form 10-K. The unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for the interim periods ended September 30, 2025 and 2024 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. For example, absent other factors, travel demand is generally higher during the summer period, or the Company’s second and third fiscal quarters. However, air travel is also significantly impacted by general economic conditions, the amount of disposable income available to consumers and changes in consumer behavior, unemployment levels, corporate travel budgets, global pandemics, extreme or severe weather and natural disasters, fears of terrorism or war, governmental actions, and other factors beyond the Company's control. These and other factors, such as the price of jet fuel in some periods, have created, and may continue to create, significant volatility in the Company's financial results. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for future quarters or for the year ended December 31, 2025. For further information, refer to the Consolidated Financial Statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024. On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was signed into law. The legislation did not have a material impact on the Company's income tax expense for the quarter ending September 30, 2025, nor is it expected to materially change the Company's effective income tax rate for 2025.
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| Operating Segments and Related Disclosures | The Company's chief operating decision maker, the Company's President, Chief Executive Officer, & Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, assesses performance for the Company's single reportable segment and decides how to allocate resources based on its Net income or loss (see the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income). For single reportable segment-level financial information, total assets, revenues from external customers, depreciation and amortization expense, interest income and interest expense, provision for income taxes, other non-operating expenses, and significant non-cash transactions,
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| New Accounting Pronouncements | On September 18, 2025, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") issued ASU 2025-06, Accounting for and Disclosure of Software Costs. The new standard modernizes the guidance to reflect the software development approaches currently being used by removing all references to "development stages" from ASC 350-40 Intangibles—Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software. Under ASU 2025-06, only the following criteria in ASC 350-40-25-12(b) and (c) must be met for entities to begin capitalizing software costs: (i) management, with the relevant authority, implicitly or explicitly authorizes and commits to funding a computer software project and (ii) it is probable that the project will be completed and the software will be used to perform the function intended (referred to as the "probable-to-complete recognition threshold"). This standard is effective for all entities for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027, and interim reporting periods within those annual reporting periods, with early adoption permitted. Entities may apply the guidance prospectively, retrospectively, or via a modified prospective transition method. The Company is evaluating this new standard, but does not expect it to have a significant impact on its financial statement presentation or results. On November 4, 2024, the FASB issued ASU 2024-03, Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income - Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses. This standard responds to investor input by requiring public companies to disclose, in interim and annual reporting periods, additional information about certain expenses in the notes to the financial statements. This standard is effective for all entities that are subject to Subtopic 220-40, for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, and interim periods within annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2027, but early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating this new standard but does not expect it to have a significant impact on its financial statement disclosures. On December 14, 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures. This standard increases transparency and decision usefulness of income tax disclosures for investors by requiring information to better assess how an entity's operations and related tax risks and tax planning and operational opportunities affect its tax rate and prospects for future cash flows. This standard requires entities to provide enhanced disclosures related to the income tax rate reconciliation and income taxes paid. This standard is effective for all entities that are subject to Topic 740, Income Taxes for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2024, but early adoption is permitted. The Company has evaluated this new standard and does not expect it to have a significant impact on its financial statement disclosures. The Company will include all required disclosures within its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, utilizing the retrospective application as permitted in the standard.
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| Revenue | The Company’s contracts with its Customers primarily consist of its tickets sold, which are initially deferred as Air traffic liability. Passenger revenue associated with tickets is recognized when the performance obligation to the Customer is satisfied, which is primarily when travel is provided. For air travel on Southwest, the amount of tickets (which includes flight credits—also referred to as partial tickets) that will go unused, referred to as breakage, is estimated and recognized in Passenger revenue once the scheduled flight date has passed. Revenue is categorized by revenue source as the Company believes it best depicts the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flow.On May 28, 2025, the Company implemented a change to its flight credit policy. Flight credits created from reservations booked and ticketed or voluntarily changed on or after May 28, 2025, have a specified expiration date of one year or less, depending on the type of fare purchased. Flight credits issued between July 28, 2022, and May 28, 2025, including any future issuances associated with bookings made prior to the policy change on May 28, 2025, do not have an expiration date. With the launch of the new Getaways by Southwest™ ("Getaways") product, the Company has begun to issue vacation travel credits for cancelled bookings, with an 18-month expiration period from the original booking date. As the Company believes that a portion of Customer travel credits (both flight credits and Getaways travel credits) issued will not be redeemed, it estimates and records breakage associated with such amounts. Customer travel credits represent approximately 5 percent and 8 percent of the total Air traffic liability balance as of September 30, 2025, and December 31, 2024, respectively. Through the Company's co-branded credit card agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("Chase"), the Company sells loyalty points, certain marketing benefits, which consist of the use of the Southwest Airlines brand and access to Rapid Rewards Member lists, licensing and advertising elements, the use of the Company’s resource team, and other airline benefits. The Company allocates consideration received to performance obligations based on the relative fair value of those obligations. In 2025, the Company and Chase amended the co-brand credit card agreement—in the first quarter to extend the term of the agreement and add enhanced airline benefits for Cardmembers associated with the Company's planned assigned seating and premium seating initiative, and again in the second quarter to add benefits to Cardmembers related to the Company's changes in its checked bag policy that went into effect on May 28, 2025. For each change to the agreement, the Company estimated the selling prices and volumes over the term of the amended agreement in order to determine the allocation of proceeds to each of the three performance obligations identified in the agreement, which have been characterized as a transportation component, a marketing component, and an airline benefits component. The Company defers revenue for points earned by Customers through the Chase agreement, and subsequently records Passenger revenue related to loyalty point redemptions for air travel when the travel is delivered, the marketing elements are recognized as Other revenue when the performance obligations related to those services are satisfied, which is generally the same period consideration is received from Chase, and the airline benefits are recognized as Passenger revenue when they are provided. As a result of the amended co-brand agreement, a larger portion of the Company’s co-brand credit card benefits from Chase are now being classified within Passenger revenues during 2025. The Company recognizes revenue related to the marketing, advertising, and other travel-related benefits of the cash receipts associated with various loyalty partner agreements including, but not limited to, its co-branded credit card agreement with Chase. For the three months ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, the Company recognized $723 million and $538 million of such revenue, respectively, the majority of which is within Other operating revenues. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, the Company recognized revenues of $1.9 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.
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| Fair Value Measurements | 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 September 30, 2025, 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, and available-for-sale securities. The majority of the Company’s cash equivalents and short-term investments consist of instruments classified as Level 1. However, the Company has certificates of deposit 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. Equity securities primarily consist of investments with readily determinable market values associated with the Company’s excess benefit plan. During second quarter 2025, the Company terminated its remaining portfolio of fuel hedging contracts, which were scheduled to settle through 2027, to effectively close its fuel hedging portfolio. See Note 3 for further information on the Company’s derivative instruments and hedging activities. The Company’s derivative instruments held in prior periods consisted of over-the-counter contracts, which were not traded on a public exchange. Fuel derivative instruments historically consisted solely of option contracts, whereas interest rate derivatives have historically consisted solely of swap agreements. The Company determined 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 historically used by the Company is an industry standard model for valuing options and is a similar 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 categorized these option contracts as Level 3. Volatility information was obtained from external sources, but was analyzed by the Company for reasonableness and compared to similar information received from other external sources. Holding other inputs constant, an increase (decrease) in implied volatility would have resulted in a higher (lower) fair value measurement, respectively, for the Company’s derivative option contracts in prior periods. The fair value of option contracts considered both the intrinsic value and any remaining time value associated with those derivatives that had not yet settled. The Company also considered 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 compared its option valuations to third party valuations. Any significant differences noted were researched in order to determine the reason. However, historically, no significant differences were noted. The Company consistently applied these valuation techniques in prior periods presented and believes it obtained the most accurate information available for the types of derivative contracts it held. Included in Equity securities are the Company’s investments primarily associated with its deferred compensation plans, which consist of mutual funds that are publicly traded and for which market prices are readily available. These plans are non-qualified deferred compensation plans designed to hold contributions in excess of limits established by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The distribution timing and payment amounts under these plans are made based on the participant’s distribution election and plan balance. Assets related to the funded portions of the deferred compensation plans are held in a rabbi trust, and the Company remains liable to these participants for the unfunded portion of the plans. The Company records changes in the fair value of plan obligations and plan assets, which net to zero, within the Salaries, wages, and benefits line and Other (gains) losses, net line, respectively, of the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income.
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