When It Comes to Adding Fees, United Outpaces the Competition
Jeff Edwards December 21, 2015
check-in at self help desk in the airport
United Airlines is the undisputed leader among U.S. carriers when it comes to squeezing extra revenue from passengers. The legacy airline makes more than $20 per passenger from the fees that are charged on top of ticket prices.
Former United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek famously told an airline industry trade group that airline added fees are here to stay. “If you want more data on your data plan so you can watch faster, better cat videos, you call AT&T, and they’re happy to increase your data plan,” Smisek defiantly told colleagues at an industry banquet in July. “And they charge you for it. That’s what businesses do.”
It seems the beleaguered CEO, who was forced to step down amid a federal investigation over allegations of providing special favors to government regulators, was right about one thing – fees for everything from changing flights to choosing seats or bringing luggage have become an important source of revenue for US Airlines. Under Smisek’s leadership, United Airlines has become the undisputed champion of charging passengers extra fees for services that were once included in the ticket price. According to data compiled by Time, last year, United Airlines made an average of $20.07 from each passenger who flew the airline.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines was a distant second to United in terms of generating revenue from fees and penalties. Delta managed to squeeze an average of an extra $15.49 over the same time period.
Even Virgin America, which has found a niche in offering a level of service that other U.S. airlines abandoned long ago, made an average of $15.37 in added charges from each passenger. Virgin America barely edged out ultra-low fare airline Frontier, which charged passengers an average of $14.52. Hawaiian Airlines made $13.50 per passenger from extra charges, and Alaska Airlines created extra revenue of $10.76 from each flyer from add-on fees. American Airlines and JetBlue were somewhat behind the curve. American managed to find an average of $8.76 extra from each passenger and JetBlue, which only recently added fees for checked bags, charged passengers an average of $8.43 in additional fees.
Southwest charged the lowest amount of additional fees of the nine largest U.S. airlines. The Dallas-based low fare airline made just $0.62 from each passenger from added charges in 2014.
[Photo: Getty]
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I'm a UA 1K, so I get two checked bags free, Economy Plus aisle seating, and regular upgrades, when available, with them as well as with their SA partners. UA's ticket prices are competitive for me, so why would I fly other airlines? They reward loyalty and there's nothing wrong with that.
This sounds like they all count their added fees differently. I can't see any way that United would so easily outstrip the others when the others charge for "preferred" seating and United does not. I get the feeling that the others have bundled a lot into the airfare so as to not appear that they are not "squeezing" customers.
news flash: corporations are about making money!!!! Ermahgerd.
The language in this article is funny in that it is not evenly applied. ,'Squeezing' applied to United and Delta, and 'Making' revenue from passengers for all the others. I think there are details missing about the fees that would help create a better picture. How do the fees break down on average? Do UA and Aa average the same amount per passenger for say baggage fees? If not, why is that? Then what about unique services that UA offers, and customers are willing to pay for, that perhaps AA does not. Lack of details and the application of language results in a negatively biased article.
Obviously there's one airline that's even MORE UNFRIENDLY when adding fees and it wasn't even mentioned; NK (Spirit Airlines, the Ryanair of the Americas). Most likely NK would be the 10th largest airline in USA and WHY STOP AT 9? Usually lists are done in a Top (or Bottom) 5s or 10s. Also most likely their take of added fees is MORE THAN $25/ticket, probably even over $30... TRANSPARENCY RULES! Let the flyer decide...