Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic - Valuation of Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangibles (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Jun. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Goodwill	$ 9,753	$ 9,781
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		234.00%
Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangibles	15,671	$ 14,841
International routes and slots
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Indefinite-lived intangibles	2,583	$ 2,583
International routes and slots \| Minimum
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		15.00%
International routes and slots \| Maximum
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		29.00%
Airline alliances
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Indefinite-lived intangibles	1,863	$ 1,005
Airline alliances \| Minimum
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		67.00%
Airline alliances \| Maximum
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		576.00%
Airline alliances \| LATAM
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Indefinite-lived intangibles	1,200
Delta tradename
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Indefinite-lived intangibles	850	$ 850
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		185.00%
Domestic slots
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Indefinite-lived intangibles	$ 622	$ 622
Domestic slots \| Minimum
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		61.00%
Domestic slots \| Maximum
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair Value Excess at 2019 Testing Date		181.00%

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Asset, Percentage Of Fair Value In Excess Of Carrying Amount

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- Definition

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets And Goodwill

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(10)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120398452&loc=d3e534808-122878

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-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120320667&loc=SL49117168-202975

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-Topic 350
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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

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- Definition

Amount of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
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- Definition

Percentage of fair value of reporting unit in excess of carrying amount.

+ References

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