Revenue Recognition - Passenger Revenue (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2017
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Operating revenue	$ 11,953	$ 11,061	$ 33,696	$ 30,910
Passenger
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Operating revenue	10,796	9,979	30,107	27,925
Ticket
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Operating revenue	9,553	8,812	26,514	24,523
Loyalty travel awards
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Operating revenue	678	622	1,976	1,826
Travel-related services
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Operating revenue	$ 565	$ 545	$ 1,617	$ 1,576

Amount, excluding tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value added and excise.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130543-203045

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130539-203045

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130545-203045

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration