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Income Taxes (Details Textuals) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Income Taxes (Textuals)
Unrecognized tax benefits as a result of potential resolutions of prior years' tax	$ 430us-gaap_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleAmountOfUnrecordedBenefit
Unrecognized tax benefits, amounts recorded to equity	$ 317axp_SignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIsReasonablyPossibleEquity
Actual tax rates	34.20%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations	35.10%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Member] | Earliest Year [Member]
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Open tax years by major tax jurisdiction	2008
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Member] | Latest Year [Member]
Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]
Open tax years by major tax jurisdiction	2011

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- Definition

Unrecognized tax benefits relating to amounts recorded to equity that, if recognized, would not impact the effective rate.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 12

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6907707&loc=d3e32687-109319



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-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

-Section 50

-Paragraph 13

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Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 235

-SubTopic 10

-Section S99

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(h)(2))

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690



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-Publisher SEC

-Name Regulation S-X (SX)

-Number 210

-Section 08

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-Subparagraph 2

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Tax year that remains open to examination under enacted tax laws, in CCYY format.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 740

-SubTopic 10

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The amount of the unrecognized tax benefit of a position taken for which it is reasonably possible that the total amount thereof will significantly increase or decrease within twelve months of the balance sheet date.

+ References

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-Paragraph 15

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