Reports

The latest from IdeaWorksCompany.

Listed below are the most recent posts to the website. Click on any item title or button to access our latest reports, press releases, and news items. Or use the menu to the right to browse news, reports, articles featuring IdeaWorksCompany research, and press releases.

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A Field Guide to the Best of Airline a la Carte – Report

March 17, 2026

IdeaWorksCompany, the leading global consultant on airline ancillary revenue, has released a new report, A Field Guide to the Best of Airline a la Carte, written by veteran airline industry consultant Jay Sorensen. The report explores how airlines around the world generate significant revenue through optional services such as baggage fees, seat assignments, and onboard food sales.

Drawing on global data and industry examples, the report examines the strategies airlines use to successfully merchandise ancillary services while maintaining customer satisfaction. It highlights how baggage fees remain the largest source of ancillary revenue, while seat assignment fees have rapidly grown to rival baggage as a major contributor for many airlines.

Jay Sorensen Busts 8 Airline Business Myths – Report

February 24, 2026

IdeaWorksCompany, the leading global consultant on airline ancillary revenue, has released a new report challenging eight deeply rooted airline business myths that limit profitability, weaken pricing integrity, and erode public trust.

The 18-page report, Jay Sorensen Busts 8 Airline Business Myths, takes direct aim at widely accepted practices such as upgrade auctions, complex fare-change rules, inconsistent baggage policies, and the belief that airlines are destined to operate with chronically low margins. Many of these ideas persist not because they are effective, but because they have become embedded in industry culture.

The analysis also highlights operational issues that directly affect the passenger experience, including baggage policies that create gate congestion, digital platforms that emphasize transactions rather than travel inspiration, and the lack of empathy for non-tech-savvy travelers as airlines expand automation. Addressing these issues, the report says, can simultaneously improve customer satisfaction and financial performance.

Kong vs. Godzilla: US Banks and Airlines Fight for Traveler Loyalty – Report

October 14, 2025

American Express, Capital One, Chase, and Citi are squaring off with the largest US airlines in a colossal struggle for traveler loyalty, according to a new report from IdeaWorksCompany titled Kong vs. Godzilla: US Banks and Airlines Fight for Traveler Loyalty. The report compares banks to King Kong and airlines to Godzilla, spotlighting a marketplace where financial institutions and carriers both wield powerful advantages. The stakes are enormous: U.S. residents spend more than $1.1 trillion annually on travel . . . and both sides want the bigger share.

Banks hold the cards. With hundreds of millions of credit card accounts and vast consumer data, the Big 4 card issuers can influence spending habits and can even determine the financial stability of airlines. Their travel platforms now operate like online travel agencies, offering flights, hotels, and more with lucrative reward bonuses. Airlines control the experience. Loyalty programs, free checked bags, seat upgrades, and extensive airport lounge networks give airlines a home-field advantage. Reward travel can be deeply discounted since airlines “own” their inventory.

Basic Economy Remakes the Airline Business: Consumers Pay More to Avoid Air Travel Misery – Press Release

September 9, 2025

The 2025 Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue reveals a cashflow shift: ancillary revenue increased while fares dropped. The 2025 edition of the Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue by IdeaWorksCompany, released today, describes ancillary revenue activities and results for 61 airlines in 2024, continuing the publication’s role as the industry’s singular voice for 18 years. The results in this Yearbook represent the 61 airlines for which IdeaWorks research identified complete or partial elements of ancillary revenue.

Eight Ideas We Admire to Boost Airline Revenue – Report

August 12, 2025

This report spotlights successful ancillary strategies from leading global carriers. Airlines chasing the next revenue breakthrough need look no further. IdeaWorksCompany, the world’s leading authority on airline ancillary revenue, has released an 18-page report: Eight Ideas We Admire to Boost Airline Revenue. The study reveals how these creative practices from airlines around the world are reshaping the way carriers increase profits while improving the passenger experience.

The report highlights exemplary techniques implemented by JetBlue, Turkish Airlines, Sun Country, Jetstar, Condor, Ryanair, Jet2.com, and Pegasus. These airlines have successfully introduced customer-friendly features that deliver measurable ancillary revenue, such as:

• JetBlue: Transforms the seat map into a premium-selling machine with smart visuals and real-time benefit comparisons.
• Jetstar: Unburdens change and cancellation policies with a simple, clear voucher system that increases take-up rates.
• Pegasus: Turns nearly every booking into a loyalty program conversion with a seamless one-click enrollment popup.
• Turkish Airlines: Monetizes empty seats with an in-path upsell that adds comfort and revenue with minimal friction.

Fly High, Land Right: Ten Life Lessons for Success in Business

July 15, 2025

In one sense, the travel industry is built to serve its investors by delivering profits. A more balanced approach would have airlines, hotels, car rental firms and more seeking to well serve investors, employees, and customers. The industry has been inconsistent – but it need not be.

“This report is offered to those working in the airline industry, but its ideas certainly have applicability far beyond it,” said Jay Sorensen, President of IdeaWorksCompany and the author of the report. “I am fortunate to be part of an industry which brings the world together through the magic of air travel. We enable global commerce, deliver leisure experiences, and connect families and friends. I’ve been lucky to learn from others, and this report honors their wisdom.”

Fly High, Land Right is based on Sorensen’s 4+ decades in the air travel business. The 20-page report issued today includes the following advice:

People are hungry for wisdom; the airline industry is best served when its people respect each other, make a good profit, and treat passengers as guests.
Honor your customers; an educated consumer is your best customer.
Your workers are wiser than you; please talk to your front line employees to seek their perspective.
Above all else be honest; employees know when a company relies on honesty to generate more revenue.
Not everyone is cheap; many are willing to spend more for better comfort and convenience.
Listening tells you more; interviewing 100 customers at an airport gate over the course of 3 days garners more wisdom than any survey or focus group can deliver.

Low Cost Meets Loyalty – Report

December 3, 2024

CarTrawler sponsored report reveals how ten top LCCs have embraced full-feature loyalty programs with partner networks, elite tiers, and co-branded credit cards. Low Cost Meets Loyalty was issued today as a 15-page report to analyze the FFPs of these ten airlines: Air Arabia, AirAsia, Azul, Frontier, GOL, IndiGo, JetBlue, Pegasus, Viva Aerobus, and Vueling. Decades ago airline executives predicted “low cost” and “loyalty” were an impossible combination.

2024 Big Book of Airline Data by IdeaWorksCompany – Report

October 22, 2024

IdeaWorksCompany releases 105-page report filled with passenger traffic, revenue, employment, and frequent flyer membership data for 239 carriers. The 2024 Big Book of Airline Data contains passenger traffic results for 168 primary airlines and 53 subsidiary airlines. The second portion contains revenue results for 136 primary airlines and 48 subsidiary airlines. The last airline sections provide membership data for 56 frequent flyer programs and employment totals for 120 carriers.

2024 CarTrawler Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue – Report

September 24, 2024

The 2024 edition of the CarTrawler Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue by IdeaWorksCompany describes ancillary revenue activities and results for 68 airlines in 2023, revealing divergences in trends and providing an assessment of the industry as a whole. Here’s a guide to key features of the 2024 edition:

• 68 pages of individual airline listings arranged by global region (109 total pages).

• Alphabetical listing of 68 airlines from Aegean to Wizz Air, as a table, with total ancillary revenue in US dollars; and ancillary revenue as a percent of total airline revenue, and per passenger.

• Ancillary revenue surges above pre-pandemic levels: For 2023 the top 10 airline companies generated $54.1 billion, which is far in excess of the $38.4 billion result for the top 10 companies for the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

• Frequent flyer program revenue jumped: Total loyalty revenue for the top 10 programs was $32.2 billion, which was 18.6 % higher than 2022.

Of the 68 airlines in this Yearbook, 57 were included in last year’s edition, allowing for direct comparisons.

This report is now available for purchase in our store: https://ideaworkscompany.com/store/

Airport Lounges Are the Hottest Ticket – Report

May 21, 2024

This CarTrawler sponsored report describes how lounges are a “must have” amenity for millions of travelers and for millions in airline revenues. The pandemic unleashed consumer craving for amenities to relieve the little miseries that can accompany travel today. Airport lounges have become a hugely popular answer. Today, lounge operators are the beneficiaries of hordes of travelers seeking premium experiences—so much so that overcrowding is a thorny issue, with social media documenting long lines in airport concourses. This is partly because higher fee co-branded credit cards now feature lounge access. Airlines are understandably excited by the revenue stream provided by these upscale sanctuaries, and new lounges are appearing in airports around the world. Airport Lounges Are the Hottest Ticket was issued today as an 18-page report to describe the economics of lounges and consumer fascination with these airport retreats.

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