Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Details 5) (USD $)	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011 segment subsidiary	Sep. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2010	Jun. 30, 2010	Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011 segment subsidiary	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Dec. 31, 2007 Delta Connection Agreements	Dec. 31, 2011 Delta Connection Agreements Y agreement rate	Feb. 28, 2010 Delta Connection Agreements aircraft	Feb. 28, 2010 United Express Agreements Y	Nov. 12, 2010 ExpressJet Capacity Purchase Agreements aircraft
Agreements with other airlines
Term of agreement (in years)													15		5
Number of agreements for cross-termination rights													2
Number of years after which the rate resets													5
Anniversary of agreements which contractual rates shall not exceed the second lowest rate for all carriers													5
Contractual Rate shall not exceed this number of rates from other carriers													2
Approximate amount of receivables withheld related to certain irregular operations expenses												$ 25,000,000
Number of aircraft operated														14		206
Other Revenue Items
Deemed rental income under code-share agreement									521,300,000	492,700,000	490,100,000
Net Income Per Common Share
Number of outstanding options not included in computation of Diluted EPS (in shares)									4,323,000	4,183,000	4,356,000
Numerator:
Net income (loss)	(17,967,000)	116,000	1,579,000	(11,063,000)	37,207,000	25,474,000	18,655,000	15,014,000	(27,335,000)	96,350,000	83,658,000
Denominator:
Denominator for basic earnings per-share weighted average shares (in shares)	50,691,000	51,570,000	52,698,000	53,844,000	54,747,000	55,901,000	55,936,000	55,855,000	52,201,000	55,610,000	55,854,000
Dilution due to stock options and restricted stock (in shares)										916,000	960,000
Denominator for diluted earnings per-share weighted average shares (in shares)	50,691,000	52,315,000	53,371,000	53,844,000	55,719,000	56,804,000	56,718,000	56,864,000	52,201,000	56,526,000	56,814,000
Basic (in dollars per share)	$ (0.35)	$ 0	$ 0.03	$ (0.21)	$ 0.68	$ 0.46	$ 0.33	$ 0.27	$ (0.52)	$ 1.73	$ 1.50
Diluted (in dollars per share)	$ (0.35)	$ 0	$ 0.03	$ (0.21)	$ 0.67	$ 0.45	$ 0.33	$ 0.26	$ (0.52)	$ 1.70	$ 1.47
Comprehensive income (loss):
Net income (loss)	(17,967,000)	116,000	1,579,000	(11,063,000)	37,207,000	25,474,000	18,655,000	15,014,000	(27,335,000)	96,350,000	83,658,000
Proportionate share of other companies foreign currency translation adjustment, net of tax									(295,000)	637,000	972,000
Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on marketable securities net of tax of $_, $457 and $2,158 for the year ended 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively									534,000	(745,000)	3,774,000
Total comprehensive income (loss)									(27,096,000)	96,242,000	88,404,000
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Fair value of long-term debt	1,952,500,000				1,926,600,000				1,952,500,000	1,926,600,000
Carrying amount of long-term debt	$ 1,815,391,000				$ 1,897,975,000				$ 1,815,391,000	$ 1,897,975,000
Segment Reporting
Operating segments number	2								2
Number of subsidiaries representing operating segments	2								2