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How Much Money Do Budget Airlines Make From Charging for Extras?
New York Times
Checked-bag fees are part of a constellation of extra charges airlines have implemented for preferred seats on planes, such as those in the front of economy, or ticket changes. IdeaWorksCompany, a consultancy that analyzes ancillary fees, projected airline fee revenue exceeded $82 billion worldwide last year.
Now boarding: higher fees for air travelers
The Boston Globe
According to a study from the consulting firm IdeaWorksCompany, which focuses on the airline industry, ancillary income for the top 10 international carriers in 2007 was $2.1 billion. In 2017, that figure had risen to $29.7 billion. The additional fees are even higher among low-cost carriers that entice customers with their impossible-to-resist low fares.
Airline revenues from theatre and car hire lift off
The Financial Times
Ancillary revenues have soared in the decade to 2017. The top 10 global airlines, ranked by total ancillary revenue, increased them from $2.1bn to $29.7bn in the 10 years to 2017, according to IdeaWorksCompany (IWC) and CarTrawler. United Airlines led with $5.8bn, three-fifths of which came from what IWC calls “à la carte” sources, such as charges for extra bags, and travel retail commissions. The rest was frequent flyer programmes.
Airlines making more seats available to frequent flyer programs as competition rises
Chicago Tribune
“There is a recognition among the big airlines in the U.S. that there’s got to be a minimum amount of reward seats available, and you’re seeing them all kind of drift towards a band close to each other in the charts,” said Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks, an airline consulting firm near Milwaukee, which conducts the annual survey
It’s Getting Easier to Redeem Frequent Flyer Miles: New Study
Skift
It can be challenging to compare the world’s frequent flyer programs because all have their own rules, and each prices awards differently. Nonetheless, analyst Jay Sorensen of IdeaWorksCompany tries each spring to answer a simple question: “How easy is redemption for the basic and most popular reward type offered by the world’s top airlines?”
Top Frequent-Flier Programs for 2018
Wall Street Journal
The annual IdeaWorks survey of award availability shows that while overall ability to find flights at basic “saver” levels was about the same as last year at 25 airlines, American Airlines significantly relaxed its grip on award seats, especially to Hawaii and Europe. American had availability on 80% of the possible trips IdeaWorks checked, up from about 50% last year. That moved American from the lowest award-seat availability among U.S. airlines to No. 3 behind Southwest and JetBlue . United made changes, too, and its availability was up more than 10 percentage points to 76% overall.
Why Airline Credit Cards Have an Enduring Appeal
New York Times
Mr. Sorensen, who runs the IdeaWorksCompany airline revenue consultancy, ran hundreds of simulations to come up with the following data for an award seat availability study he does with the rental site CarTrawler: The average value per mile redeemed for economy class travel ranges from 0.7 cents to 1.4 cents, depending on the airline. For long-distance business class seats, it ranges from 1.5 cents to 2.4 cents. So a 2 percent cash-back card would more often be a better value.
Airlines only beginning to tap into mobile growth potential
tnooz
Few airlines are making the most of the bookings and ancillary potential of mobile platforms according to a report. Initiatives by those airlines at the lead show that mobile-first strategies can work exceptionally well. The IdeaWorks and CarTrawler report points to the rising trend of consumers preferring mobile interactions, with 3.5% more mobile phone accounts than there are people in the world.
By The Numbers: Airlines Get Charged Up
Forbes
As seats get narrower, airlines are getting fatter off bag fees, meals and other extras. Airlines globally were projected to pull in a record $82 billion in ancillary revenue last year, up nearly fourfold from 2010. Passengers grumble, but such additional revenue is a boost to carrier profitability–and in turn gets invested in new planes, in-flight entertainment and airport waiting areas.
Airline Baggage Fees Go International
Bloomberg
Over the past decade, ancillary revenue at the 10 airlines that collect the most in fees jumped from $2.1 billion to more than $28 billion by 2016, according to IdeaWorks Co. The top three U.S. carriers accounted for $16.3 billion of that amount. Bag fees “have proven to be big revenue generators, and they too will become status quo in the trans-Atlantic by end of 2019, and globally thereafter,” Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks . . .