An elderly couple has accused European low-cost carrier Ryanair of charging them 110 pounds, or $140, just to print out the boarding passes for their outbound flight.
27.07.2023 - 18:42 / smartertravel.com / Wizz Air / Airlines
Ancillary revenue is the amount of money an airline takes in after charging for its base airfares—also known as airline fees. It might not come as a surprise that the amount airlines get by nickel-and-diming you has been growing steadily over the past decade—but some charge (a lot) more in airline fees than others. How much? Billions.
The 10 carriers that charged the most airline fees last year collected an increased total of almost $30 billion. That number is likely to go up again this year. The latest annual airline fees report from IdeaWorks Company, the go-to source for ancillary revenue data, highlights which ones charge the most, and what they’re really charging you for.
Related:The 12 Most-Hated Travel Fees and How to Avoid Them The Airlines That Charge the Most Airline FeesHere are the carriers that charge the most airline fees per passenger, and some key takeaways:
Spirit: $51 per passenger WOW Air: $49 per passenger Allegiant: $49 per passenger Frontier: $48 per passenger Jet2.com: $43 per passenger Qantas Airways: $43 per passenger United: $39 per passenger AirAsia X: $33 per passenger HK Express: $33 per passenger Wizz Air: $31 per passenger Low-Fare Lines Thrive on FeesThe IdeaWorks data validates the charge that low-fare lines offset rock-bottom fares by stiff fees for everything else. Spirit (47 percent of revenue is airline fees), Frontier (42 percent), and Allegiant (40 percent) derive substantial portions of their total revenues from add-on fees not related to frequent flyer revenues. Spirit’s take amounts to an astounding $51 per passenger, almost all of it a la carte fees. The other top-10 lines in terms of percentage of income derived from fees are also low-fare lines: VivaAeroBus, Wizz, Volotea, WOW, Ryanair, Volaris, and Jet2.
Baggage Is the Big HitIn a sampling of low-fare lines, IdeaWorks found that baggage fees amounted to 40 percent of total ancillary revenue, with HK Express and WOW hitting more than 65 percent. By contrast, JinAir, which offers one checked bag without a fee, collected only eight percent of total ancillary revenue from baggage.
But the baggage scene isn’t uniform: When bag fees become a pain point for passenger, some lines listen. Last year, Ryanair modified its fare structure to offer a fairly low five euro (about $6) fee that bundles priority boarding and one free 22-pound cabin roll-on bag. Wizz also dropped its carry-on fee. Both lines reported drops in fee revenue but apparently decided that more customer-friendly fees improved overall sales.
Related:Baggage Fees and Weight Limits for the Top 50 Airlines Spirit Piles It OnA staggering 33 percent of Spirit’s ancillary revenue comes from its fee for online booking: The only way to avoid this airline
An elderly couple has accused European low-cost carrier Ryanair of charging them 110 pounds, or $140, just to print out the boarding passes for their outbound flight.
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