U.S. airlines are world-beaters when it comes to finding creative ways to boost baggage fees, onboard food sales and other revenues that aren't rolled into airfares, financial data show.

United, American and Delta led global carriers in collecting ancillary revenues in 2009, according to a new study by airline consultancy IdeaWorks and Amadeus, a giant clearinghouse for airline transactions.

Airlines worldwide collected $13.5 billion in 2009, a 43 percent jump from 2008 totals, according to the study of financial filings made by 96 airlines.

Chicago-based United Airlines generated the greatest fee income of any carrier in the world: $1.9 billion in ancillary revenues last year, the study found. That's about double the $963 million in fees pocketed by Australia's Qantas Airways, the highest-ranking overseas carrier in the study.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,5103707.story