Pension and Other Postretirement Plans - Participation in the IAM National Pension Plan (Details) - IAM National Pension Plan - Multi-Employer Pension Plans - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Multiemployer Plans [Line Items]
Additional contribution rate	2.50%
Surcharge Imposed	No
United Airlines, Inc.
Multiemployer Plans [Line Items]
United's Contributions	$ 59	$ 52	$ 50

Multiemployer Plan, Additional Contribution Rate In Excess Of The Hourly Contribution Rate

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of contributions made to multiemployer plan by employer.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 80
-Section 50
-Paragraph 9
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65877416&loc=SL14450691-114947

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 80
-Section 50
-Paragraph 11
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65877416&loc=SL14450702-114947

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 80
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (e)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65877416&loc=SL14450657-114947

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Indicate whether the employer paid a surcharge to the pension or postretirement benefit plan to which two or more unrelated employers contribute where assets contributed by one participating employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers. The acceptable values are "no", "yes", and "NA".

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 80
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-Subparagraph (f)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65877416&loc=SL14450657-114947

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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