These 4 Airlines Made More From Upsells Than Ticket Sales in 2020

Budget airlines long ago pioneered optional extras, such as bag charges. But 2020 was the first year that as many as four low-cost carriers — Allegiant, Spirit, VivaAerobus, and Wizz Air — generated more ancillary revenue, or income beyond standard airfares, than they did revenue from ticket sales.

Hungary-based carrier Wizz Air led the industry by generating 55.9 percent of its revenue last year from ancillaries, according to a report released on Tuesday by travel consulting firm IdeaWorksCompany and CarTrawler, a tech company for car rental bookings. One of the novel WizzAir fees introduced last year was a system surcharge fee.

It wasn’t just budget carriers that benefited from upselling. A look at the world’s 75 largest commercial airlines showed that average ancillary revenue as a percentage of total revenue last year was 14.6 percent, a rise of 12.1 percent over 2019.

“The durability of ancillary revenue was revealed by the stability of a la carte fees,” said Aileen McCormack, chief commercial officer at CarTrawler. “While fares were certainly reduced, airlines did not turn to discounting a la carte fees during the pandemic.”