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Airlines Made A Whopping $27B off The Extra Fees You Paid Them
By Mirela Necsutu, Mon, Dec 23, 2013Airlines siphoned $27.1 billion in extra charges, such as baggage fees and seat upgrades, in 2012 alone – that’s up 20% from 2011, according to a recent report by the IdeaWorks Company.
Courtesy of Skift.com, airlines are ranked below by 2013 baggage and change fee revenue for Q1-Q3:
| Rank | Airline | Baggage Fees ($) | Change Fees ($) | Total Fees ($) |
| 1 | Delta | 635,301,000 | 636,926,000 | 1,272,227,000 |
| 2 | United | 471,450,000 | 572,997,000 | 1,044,447,000 |
| 3 | American | 382,883,000 | 400,955,000 | 783,838,000 |
| 4 | US Airways | 400,340,000 | 249,538,000 | 649,878,000 |
| 5 | Spirit | 158,728,000 | 23,943,000 | 182,671,000 |
| 6 | JetBlue | 55,378,000 | 107,766,000 | 163,144,000 |
| 7 | Alaska | 73,500,000 | 67,976,000 | 141,476,000 |
| 8 | Southwest | 117,638,000 | 22,992,000 | 140,630,000 |
| 9 | Allegiant | 95,589,000 | 7,052,000 | 102,641,000 |
| 10 | Virgin America | 43,911,000 | 24,305,000 | 68,216,000 |
| 11 | Hawaiian | 53,431,000 | 13,561,000 | 66,992,000 |
| 12 | Frontier | 47,057,000 | 9,552,000 | 56,609,000 |
| 13 | Sun Country | 12,343,000 | 1,436,000 | 13,779,000 |
| 14 | Mesa | 1,980,000 | n/a | 1,980 |
| 15 | Island Air Hawaii | 1,486,000 | 251,000 | 1,737,000 |
| 16 | American Eagle | 12,000 | n/a | 12 |
| All | 2,551,027,000 | 2,139,250,000 | 4,688,286,992 |
More airlines have been hitting passengers with these extra charges since 2008, when rising fuel costs forced carriers to look for other ways to make money. Although it’s typically been the low-cost airlines that have had the highest fees, the IdeaWorks report says that more major European airlines are using extra charges to help their bottom lines.
“Statistics help tell the ancillary revenue story, and every year key numbers are getting bigger,” the study says. “The most aggressive airlines easily generate more than 20% of their revenues from a la carte fees.”
Those “most aggressive” airlines rake in about $30 per passenger, says the study.
So who were the biggest culprits? United Airlines led all carriers in fee revenue with $5.4 billion, followed by Delta Air Lines with $2.6 billion and American with $2 billion. Spirit Airlines took in 38.5% of its revenue from extra fees — the most of any carrier –followed by Allegiant Air with 30% and Britain’s Jet2.com with 27%.
If you’re looking for a few ways to cut down on how much you pay in extra airline charges, this article about avoiding baggage fees might help.
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