Presumably, if you break it down on a per-passenger basis, it sounds far less painful.
Air travelers are expected to pay $15.02 each this year for ancillary fees such as checked baggage and seat assignments. But the more stark reality is this - a new study shows that 15 bucks will add up to an incredible $49.9 billion in ancillary fees for airlines worldwide this year.
That's up from an estimated $43 billion last year and $36 billion in 2012.
"Consumers are best served when choice is accompanied with better value," Jay Sorenson, CEO of the airline consultancy IdeaWorks, which produced the study, said in a statement. "Merely charging a fee for a service that was once free may quickly degrade the brand of a traditional airline and alienate their core consumer base."
The problem for travelers is that the increase in ancillary fees also comes at a time when basic fares have increased. According to an Associated Press analysis of date from the Airlines Reporting Corp., the average round-trip domestic airfare for the first half of this calendar year was $509.15 - an increase of $14 from the same time period a year ago.
That figure does not include ancillary fees, just the cost of the ticket.
Earlier this year, the new, increased fee for the Transportation Security Administration went into effect. Fliers now pay a flat fee of $5.60 each way, up from $2.50 each way for nonstop flights.
At the same time, the average nightly price of a hotel room for the first half of 2014 was $113.80, up four percent from a year ago.
Phil Lebeau, business analyst for CNBC, said the reason for the big jump in ancillary fees was two-fold - the airlines themselves are becoming better retailers, particularly with up-front costs, and many foreign carriers that had previously eschewed ancillary fees are now embracing the concept.
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