# Ancillary revenue benchmarks Published ancillary revenue benchmarks are rarely comparable. How to read the real sources critically, and how to build an internal baseline that is worth tracking. You probably arrived looking for a number: the figure that says whether your ancillary performance is good. This page does not have one, and the reason is not modesty. Almost every ancillary benchmark in circulation is a number with its definition stripped off, and a number without its definition is not evidence. It is decoration. There is no single ancillary revenue benchmark worth quoting. Published figures use different denominators, different category mixes, and different channels, so two of them rarely measure the same thing. Read industry sources for direction and definition, then benchmark yourself against your own baseline, measured the same way every period. ## Why the circulating numbers do not survive contact Take any widely repeated ancillary figure and trace it backwards. It usually began in a real study, was quoted in an article, was quoted again from the article, and by the fourth repetition the qualifying sentence has fallen off. The surviving number carries no denominator, no period, and no scope. That matters because [ancillary revenue](/glossary/ancillary-revenue) is not one metric. It is a family of metrics that share a name, and the choices between them move the answer by more than any operational improvement ever will. ## What actually makes two figures incomparable | The choice | Common variants | Effect on the number | | --- | --- | --- | | Denominator | Per passenger, per booking, per segment, per departure | A multi sector booking counted per segment produces a much smaller figure than the same booking counted once | | Category scope | Seats and bags only, or the wider catalogue including insurance, lounges, and meals | Broad scope raises the total and dilutes the per category detail | | Channel | Direct only, indirect only, or blended | Direct and indirect behave differently enough that a blended figure describes neither | | Gross or net | Face value, or value after commissions, refunds, and chargebacks | Net figures are the honest ones and are almost never the quoted ones | | Taxes and fees | Included, excluded, or unstated | Carrier imposed charges and government taxes can dominate a small ancillary sale | | Haul and market | Short haul, long haul, domestic, international | Willingness to pay differs by hours in the air more than by anything else | | Period and currency | Financial year, calendar year, a single quarter, one reporting currency | A strong quarter and a moved exchange rate look identical in the output | Any two figures that differ on even three of these rows are measuring different things. Most published comparisons differ on all seven and do not say so. **Caution:** If a benchmark does not state its denominator, its scope, and its period, the correct response is not to adjust for the difference. It is to stop using the figure, because you cannot adjust for something you cannot see. ## Where real figures are published, and how to read them Genuine, checkable ancillary data does exist. It is less convenient than the numbers on a slide, which is why it circulates less. 1. **Airline annual reports and investor presentations** The most reliable source, because the figures carry legal weight. Find the segment note rather than the highlights page and read the definition in its footnote. Many carriers fold ancillary into other operating income, which tells you the figure you wanted was never disclosed. 2. **Regulatory filings** Listed carriers file into their home market regulator, and some aviation regulators collect baggage and change fee reporting directly. Drier and far more precise than anything downstream, usually free to read, and narrow in scope, so treat them as a floor rather than a full picture. 3. **Industry associations and specialist consultancies** Several publish annual ancillary studies covering many carriers on a consistent methodology, which is exactly what makes them worth reading. Go to the source document and read the method section first. If the method is not published, treat the headline as an opinion. 4. **The trade press** Useful for finding where a figure originated, and unreliable as the figure itself. Follow every stated number back to its primary document before repeating it. If you cannot find the primary document, that is your answer about the number. One habit is worth more than the whole list: read the definition before the result. If you cannot describe how a figure was calculated after reading its source, you have learned something useful about the figure. ## Build a baseline you can defend The benchmark that changes decisions is your own, measured consistently. It is also the only one you can fully see the inside of. **Definition:** Write your metric as one sentence with no gaps in it. For example: net ancillary revenue after refunds and commissions, per confirmed booking, for the categories you actually merchandise, in one reporting currency, over a calendar month. Every word there is a choice, and writing it down is what stops the choice quietly changing. Then hold four disciplines. Segment before you aggregate. A single blended figure across long haul and short haul, direct and indirect, entry brands and flexible brands, hides everything worth acting on. The interesting comparisons are internal: this route family against that one, this fare brand against that one. Fix the denominator and leave it alone. Changing from per booking to per passenger midway through a year does not improve the metric. It ends the time series. Recompute history whenever the definition changes. Change it backwards as well, and keep a dated note of what changed and why. A metric without a change log becomes unusable within about two people. Track the shape, not the level. Direction over several periods carries real information. A single period against an external figure carries almost none. **Insight:** Benchmarking is mostly useful as a question generator. A figure that differs from what you expected is worth investigating; a figure that matches an industry average tells you nothing about whether the average was any good. Two other pages shape how you read your own numbers. What the fare already included is covered in [unbundling and branded fares](/learn/unbundling-and-branded-fares), and whether the price was fixed or constructed is covered in [dynamic offer pricing](/learn/dynamic-offer-pricing). ## Talk to us about measuring your own baseline Defining the metric properly is the part most teams skip. If you want a second opinion on how yours is built, we are happy to look at it with you. [Talk to us](mailto:hello@departcart.com) ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a good ancillary revenue per passenger figure? The question cannot be answered without a definition. Per passenger over which passengers, counting which categories, gross or net, and in which channel? Two answers built on different choices are not comparable, so the target has to come from your own history. ### Where can I find real ancillary revenue figures? Airline annual reports and investor presentations, regulatory filings by listed carriers, the annual studies published by industry associations and specialist consultancies, and the trade press. Always read the primary document rather than the article summarising it. ### Why do published ancillary benchmarks vary so widely? Because the denominator, the category mix, the channel, and the treatment of taxes and commissions all vary between publishers, and most figures do not state which choices were made. ### Should an agency benchmark itself against airlines? Only for direction. An airline counts inventory it owns and prices itself. An intermediary counts commissions and margin on someone else's inventory, so the two figures describe different businesses. ### How long before an internal baseline is useful? Long enough to cover the seasonality of your own booking mix. Until you have seen a full cycle, a movement in the number is as likely to be the calendar as it is to be anything you did.