Retirement Benefits - Components of Net Periodic Benefit Cost (Income) (Parenthetical) (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Amortization of prior service costs	$ 3	$ 14
American Airlines, Inc. [Member]
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Amortization of prior service costs	$ 3	$ 14

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.

No definition available.

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