Managed to snag a $2 flight ticket? Chances are, you’d probably have paid a lot more than that in total.
After all, budget airlines, in particular, rely upon aggressively seeking revenue from everything else other than your plane ticket itself, whether it’s extra leg room (sucks to be you, tall people), checked baggage, or any vaguely marketable luxury.
But hey, how would they stay in business if they’re flying you out to your beach vacation for the price of a bus ride to your nearest shopping mall?
That said, we don’t often keep track of how much we’re being charged for these a la carte services. Aviation consultant Ideaworks Company recently revealed the top 10 airlines that charge the most ancillary fees, and of these 10 airlines alone, the total figure was more than $28 billion – up from only $2.1 billion in 2007.
Take for instance the chart-topper, US-based Spirit Airlines. It’s $6.2 billion worth of revenue from ancillary fees in 2016 accounted for almost half of its total revenue.
Airlines popular with travellers from Singapore – Qantas Airways, Virgin Atlantic and AirAsia X – also made the list.
Gulp. Check out the 10 airlines with the highest ancillary revenue per passenger (or view the full report here):
Spirit Airlines (United States, the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Latin America): $49.89
Allegiant Air (United States): $48.93
Frontier Airlines (United States): $48.60
United Airlines (United States): $32.46
Jet2 (United Kingdom): $42.46
Qantas Airways (Australia, international): $42.38
Virgin Atlantic (United Kingdom, international): $42.25
AirAsia X (Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East): $34.41
Korean Air (South Korea, international) $32.59
Alaska Air Group (United States): $31.41
But what wouldn’t we pay for a good vacay?
Text: Pinky Chng/The Finder
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