What are ancillary fees in air travel?

Ancillary fees are charges airlines add on top of the base ticket price for optional services like checked baggage, seat selection, priority boarding, in-flight Wi-Fi, and meals. Navan displays all applicable ancillary fees at the point of search so business travelers see the true total cost before booking.

How much do airlines make from ancillary fees?

Global airline ancillary revenue reached $148 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $157 billion in 2025, according to IdeaWorks. Navan helps corporate travel programs track their share of that spending by capturing every add-on charge automatically and routing it into categorized expense reports.

What is the difference between ancillary fees and ancillary services?

Ancillary services are the optional products themselves, such as extra legroom or lounge access. Ancillary fees are the charges attached to those services.

Are ancillary fees refundable?

Refund policies vary by airline and fee type. Most carriers refund ancillary fees for canceled flights but not for voluntary changes on basic economy tickets.

How can companies reduce ancillary fee spending?

Centralizing bookings on a single platform is the most effective step because it captures every add-on charge in one place. Navan enforces travel policy at the point of sale, compares total trip cost including extras, and identifies routes where bundled fares cost less than basic economy plus individual ancillary fees.

Do business class tickets include ancillary fees?

Business class fares typically bundle checked baggage, seat selection, meals, lounge access, and priority boarding into the ticket price.

Navan - Business Travel Solutions & Expense Management

Ancillary Fees

Ancillary fees are extra charges that airlines and travel suppliers add on top of a base fare for optional services such as checked baggage, seat selection, and priority boarding. These add-on charges generated $148 billion in airline revenue worldwide in 2024 and represent a growing challenge for corporate travel budgets.

Victoria Landsmann

•June 2, 2026•

6 minute read

Key Takeaways About Ancillary Fees

Ancillary fees are the extra charges airlines and travel suppliers tack onto base fares for optional services. For corporate travel programs, these add-on charges quietly inflate trip costs and make budgets harder to forecast. Navan gives finance teams real-time visibility into ancillary spending across 600+ airlines so extra fees never slip through unnoticed.

Airlines generated $148 billion in ancillary revenue globally in 2024, up from $67 billion in 2016, with projections reaching $157 billion in 2025 (IdeaWorks, 2025).
Add-on spending now accounts for roughly 8% of total corporate travel expenses and has grown more than 33% in recent years (GBTA, 2024).
80% of business travelers book off-platform at least some of the time, making it harder for finance teams to track add-on charges and enforce travel policies.
Navan captures every add-on charge at the point of booking and routes them into expense reports automatically, helping companies save a median 15% on total travel spend.

What Are Ancillary Fees?

Ancillary fees are charges for optional services that go beyond the base price of a ticket or reservation. In air travel, the base fare covers only transportation from one airport to another; everything else, from a checked bag to a Wi-Fi connection, carries its own price tag.

The practice of "unbundling" started with low-cost carriers like Ryanair and Spirit Airlines, which stripped extras from the base fare to advertise lower ticket prices. Full-service airlines followed suit throughout the 2010s. Today, ancillary revenue represents 15.7% of total airline revenue globally, up from 9.1% in 2016 (IdeaWorks, 2025). For some carriers, add-on charges account for more than half of all revenue. The latest airline rankings from the DOT show how fee structures vary widely across carriers.

Ancillary fees differ from ancillary services, which refer to the services themselves rather than the charges attached to them. A seat selection is an ancillary service; the $35 you pay for it is an ancillary fee.

What Types of Ancillary Fees Do Airlines Charge?

Airline ancillary fees fall into several categories, each adding to the total cost of a trip:

Baggage fees: First checked bag fees range from $30 to $45 on most U.S. carriers. Second bags cost $45 to $60. Overweight bags (over 50 lbs) incur surcharges of $100 to $200.
Seat selection: Standard seat assignments cost $10 to $50. Extra-legroom and preferred seats range from $20 to $80 or more depending on the route.
Priority boarding and express check-in: Fees range from $7 to $80 depending on the airline and fare class.
In-flight Wi-Fi: Prices vary from $5 to $25 per flight, with monthly passes available on some carriers for $50.
Food, beverages, and comfort kits: Buy-on-board meals cost $5 to $19, with alcoholic beverages typically $7 to $16.
Flight changes and cancellations: Basic economy tickets carry change fees of $49 to $200 per segment, while main cabin fares on most U.S. airlines now allow free changes.
Loyalty program monetization: Airlines sell frequent flyer miles to banks and credit card companies. This accounts for roughly 55% of full-service carriers' ancillary revenue.

The business travel platform in Navan displays all applicable add-on charges at the point of search so travelers and travel managers can compare the true total cost before completing a booking.

How Do Ancillary Fees Affect Corporate Travel Budgets?

For individual leisure travelers, a $35 bag fee is a minor annoyance. For companies managing thousands of trips per year, the math scales quickly. A mid-size company booking 5,000 round trips annually can spend $350,000 or more on baggage fees alone.

Three factors make these extra charges especially problematic for finance teams:

Lack of visibility: When travelers book through consumer sites or off-platform channels, ancillary charges scatter across personal credit cards, corporate cards, and out-of-pocket receipts. Finance teams piece together the true trip cost weeks after travel occurs. Navan consolidates every charge, including airline surcharges, into a single dashboard tied to the original booking.
Policy gaps: Many corporate travel policies set limits on airfare and hotel rates but say nothing about seat upgrades, Wi-Fi purchases, or priority boarding. Without clear guidelines, travelers make inconsistent decisions that inflate total spend.
Reconciliation burden: 71% of business travelers spend 30 or more minutes on each expense report (Skift/Navan, 2026). Manually categorizing each add-on charge adds friction and delays reimbursement. Navan automates receipt matching and categorization, collapsing reconciliation from days to minutes.

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Best Practices for Managing Ancillary Fees in Corporate Travel

Companies that treat add-on charges as a controllable line item rather than an inevitable cost can recapture significant budget. Five practices deliver the highest impact:

Define allowable extras by trip type: A sales visit to a client site may justify priority boarding and Wi-Fi. A one-day internal meeting may not. Navan enforces these rules at the point of booking, showing only compliant options and flagging out-of-policy add-ons before the traveler checks out.
Consolidate booking on a single platform: Off-platform bookings are the primary source of extra fee leakage. When 80% of travelers book off-platform at least some of the time, finance teams lose spend visibility. Centralizing bookings through Navan captures every fee automatically.
Negotiate bundled rates with preferred carriers: Companies with high-volume routes can negotiate fare bundles that include baggage, seat selection, and change flexibility at a discount. Navan's spend analytics reveal which routes and carriers drive the most add-on spending, giving procurement teams data to negotiate from.
Use fare comparison that includes total cost: A basic economy fare at $199 plus $70 in bag fees and seat selection costs more than a $249 main cabin fare that includes those extras. Displaying total trip cost, not just base fare, helps travelers and approvers compare options accurately.
Automate expense categorization: Tagging extra fees separately from base fare in expense reports lets finance teams track fee trends over time and identify where policy adjustments would save the most.

How Should Travel Policies Address Ancillary Costs?

A travel policy that ignores airline surcharges and add-on costs leaves a gap that costs real money. Effective policies address four areas:

Reimbursement rules: Specify which extra charges the company reimburses (checked baggage for trips over three days, Wi-Fi for client-facing roles) and which fall on the traveler (seat upgrades for personal preference, premium food and beverage).
Fare class guidance: Encourage travelers to compare bundled fares against basic economy plus add-ons. In many cases, a standard economy or premium economy ticket costs less than basic economy with extras purchased separately.
Approval thresholds: Set automatic approval for add-on charges under a certain dollar amount and require manager review above it. Navan applies these thresholds automatically without requiring travelers to submit separate requests.
Traveler education: Brief new employees on which extras are covered and how to book them through the approved platform. A short onboarding module reduces confusion and dispute volume.

Ancillary Services: the optional add-on products airlines and hotels offer beyond the base reservation, distinct from the fees charged for those products
Corporate Travel Policy: the internal rules that govern how employees book trips, what they can expense, and which ancillary charges the company covers
Expense Report: the document where business travelers itemize trip costs, including add-on charges, for reimbursement and accounting
Spend Visibility: the ability of finance teams to see and categorize every dollar spent on travel, including hidden add-on charges

Sources

IdeaWorks Company, "2025 Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue," 2025.
GBTA, "Business Travel Spending Report," 2024.
Skift and Navan, "State of Corporate Travel and Expense," 2026.
U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, "Ancillary Fees Data," 2024.
CBTravel, "Major U.S. Airlines Increase Baggage Fees," 2026.
IATA, "Ancillary Revenue Forecast," 2025.

Travel managers looking to control ancillary spending across their program can explore how Navan's business travel platform captures every add-on charge at the point of booking and routes it into automated expense reports.

Frequently Asked Questions About Ancillary Fees

Ancillary fees are charges airlines add on top of the base ticket price for optional services like checked baggage, seat selection, priority boarding, in-flight Wi-Fi, and meals. Navan displays all applicable ancillary fees at the point of search so business travelers see the true total cost before booking.
Global airline ancillary revenue reached $148 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $157 billion in 2025, according to IdeaWorks. Navan helps corporate travel programs track their share of that spending by capturing every add-on charge automatically and routing it into categorized expense reports.
Ancillary services are the optional products themselves, such as extra legroom or lounge access. Ancillary fees are the charges attached to those services.
Refund policies vary by airline and fee type. Most carriers refund ancillary fees for canceled flights but not for voluntary changes on basic economy tickets.
Centralizing bookings on a single platform is the most effective step because it captures every add-on charge in one place. Navan enforces travel policy at the point of sale, compares total trip cost including extras, and identifies routes where bundled fares cost less than basic economy plus individual ancillary fees.
Business class fares typically bundle checked baggage, seat selection, meals, lounge access, and priority boarding into the ticket price.
Add-on charges now represent roughly 8% of total corporate travel expenses and have grown more than 33% in recent years. Navan gives finance teams real-time dashboards that break out ancillary spending by category, carrier, and department so budget overruns from extra fees are caught early, not months later.