Airlines made how much in extra fees this year?!

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We’ve all felt that hanging sadness when realising the flight we are about to board has no complimentary food.

A whole three hours without eating? How are we supposed to survive!

But never fear, a kind flight attendant says, we have onboard meals available for purchase.

When faced with the possibility of not eating for a few hours, purchasable food and beverages are about the closest thing to dangling carrots in front of a rabbit.

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So it’s not completely surprising that flyers have spent an exorbitant amount airline fees this year, though the figure itself might just take your breath away.

According to a recent report from global carriers by IdeaWorks and CarTrawler, ancillary revenue – essentially just added costs of flying including baggage, food, and drinks – will likely reach $82 billion.

You read that right, airlines have raked in $82 billion big ones in 2017.

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And if you haven’t already fallen off your chair, this might just do it.

That figure is an increase of 264 per cent since 2010, when airlines brought in a solid $22.6b.

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According to the report, ancillary revenue is most commonly generated from “hotel bookings, the sale of frequent flyer miles to partners, and the provision of a la carte services, and provides more options for consumers and more profit for airlines.”

With few exceptions, airlines all over the world are moving to a la carte methods to provide more choices for consumers while boosting ancillary revenue.

The pace of ancillary revenue activity quickens when major alliance members, such as Air France/KLM, American, Lufthansa, Qantas, and United embrace ancillary revenue methods.

The changes have a ripple effect through the Oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliances which encourages member airlines to adopt the same methods to smooth commercial and operational connections.

This partially explains why the largest share of the 2017 increase came from the world’s traditional airlines at $6.1b, which was 41 per cent of the total increase.

For example, throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia, basic economy fares are now prevalent for short and medium-haul travel.

Airlines using this a la carte approach usually find more than 50 per cent of passengers select higher-priced bundled options.

When this activity is matched by an ever-growing pool of airlines, the result is billions more ancillary revenue.

And while those airlines gobble up billions of dollars, we gobble down on a prepackaged, soggy ham and cheese sandwich.

We feel like we might be getting the raw end of the deal here.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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