TORONTO — Checked bags. Pre-selected seats. Onboard WiFi, meals and snacks. Frequent flyer program partnerships.

All those ancillaries (and many more that probably never occurred to you), add up to billions of dollars in revenue for the world’s carriers – to the point that ancillary revenue now outpaces overall airline revenue.

New stats from IdeaWorksCompany’s annual ancillary roundup – officially the 2026 SeatMaps.com Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue by IdeaWorksCompany – shows that total ancillary revenue increased 13.4% year over year, compared with a 7.2% increase in total revenue.

“That’s nearly twice as fast,” said Jay Sorensen, President, IdeaWorksCompany. Sorensen compiles the stats and analysis for the report, now in its 19th year.

ALL THE ANCILLARY CATEGORIES

Low-cost carriers have perfected the art of nickel-and-diming as the foundation of their business model, and not surprisingly LCCs top the Yearbook’s ranking of airlines by ancillary revenue as a percentage of total revenue. 

Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines leads the world in ancillary revenue as a share of total revenue, at 60.2%.

Sorensen breaks down ancillary categories this way …

• A la carte features that can include onboard F&B sales, checked bags and excess baggage, assigned seats or better seats like exit rows, call centre support for reservations, fees charged for purchases made with credit or debit cards, priority check-in and screening, early boarding benefits, onboard entertainment systems, and wireless internet access. “The list continues to grow,” says Sorensen.
• Frequent flyer programs, largely consisting of the sale of miles or points to program partners such as hotel chains and car rental companies, co-branded credit cards, online malls, retailers, and communication services. Miles or points sold directly to program members also qualify.
• Commission-based products, i.e. commissions earned by airlines on the sale of hotel accommodations, car rentals and travel insurance, and the onboard sale of duty-free and consumer products.
• Advertising sold by the airline, including any advertising initiative linked to passenger travel (i.e. revenue generated from an inflight magazine, advertising messages sold in or on aircraft, loading bridges, gate areas, and airport lounges, and fee-based placement of consumer products and samples).
• Fare or product bundles, as some airlines may allocate a portion of the price associated with a fare bundle or product bundle as ancillary revenue.

BILLION DOLLAR ANCILLARY REVENUE HAS BECOME ROUTINE

Sorensen notes that billion-dollar ancillary revenue has become routine. Some 30 airlines generated at least US$1 billion in ancillary revenue in 2025, up from 27 airlines in 2024.

“Ancillary revenue gains over the past five years have been powered by the airline industry’s embrace of seat assignment fees and greater reliance on branded fares,” he says. “Ancillary revenue has demonstrated remarkable durability in both good times and bad. It has adjusted reliably to economic challenges, often more effectively than passenger fares, which truly makes it an economic miracle for the airline industry.”

AIR CANADA, UNITED, DELTA, AA & MORE

United Airlines was on top for total ancillary revenue. The carrier’s 2025 result was US$11.5 billion, up 9.3% vs. 2024.

So what about Canadian carriers? The only Canadian airline consistently on The Yearbook’s list is Air Canada. Air Canada isn’t the only Canadian carrier selling ancillary add-ons and the like; it’s more a matter of volume, and also the availability of ancillary stats. 

In 2025, based on The Yearbook research, Air Canada generated ancillary revenues totalling US$2.78 billion, accounting for 17% of total revenue. 

Here’s a sampling of how that compares to other carriers: Air France – KLM, US$3.49 billion (10.9%); Alaska Air Group, US$3.2 billion (22.6%); American Airlines, US$9.6 billion (17.7%); Delta, US$10.8 billion (18.6%); Lufthansa, US$3.6 billion (10.2%); Ryanair Group, US$5.8 billion (32.1%); Southwest, US$7.8 billion (27.8%); United, US$11.5 billion (19.5%).

We asked Sorensen for his take. He note that among its peers of North American airlines – Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest and United – Air Canada has the lowest percentage of ancillary revenue as a percentage of total airline revenue. 

Does Air Canada still have room to grow when it comes to ancillary revenue generation? Or does the airline apply “some degree of restraint,” as Sorensen puts it? “I know that might be a controversial statement to make and that Canadian consumers may vehemently disagree,” says Sorensen. 

The 2026 Yearbook includes 63 airlines for which IdeaWorksCompany research identified complete or partial elements of ancillary revenue. The 2026 edition clocks in at 110 pages and can be dowloaded for free.