The ticket is just the beginning: Ancillary products have become the airlines' gold mine

The summer season is here, and thousands of Israelis are preparing to pass through airports in the country and around the world. According to the Israel Airports Authority, about 90,000 people are expected to pass through Ben Gurion Airport every day next week, and the entire month of July is expected to total 2.3 million passengers. Once, the way to the airport was simple: you would talk to a travel agent, buy a flight ticket that included everything you needed, and head to the plane. Today, we often find ourselves buying a ticket and adding hundreds of dollars for basic ancillary products, such as luggage and seat selection.

However, this may soon change—at least partially. Last week, the European Union approved several reforms regarding passenger rights, one of which requires airlines to include a carry-on of up to 7 kg for every passenger. In other words, when you book a flight ticket, you will not be surprised to discover later that you also have to pay for the carry-on. The reforms will especially affect European companies like Ryanair, Wizz Air, and easyJet, and they will come into effect in the second half of next year.

"The model puts you in a honey trap"

To understand how we got to this situation, we need to look back at the low-cost revolution. "Until 20 years ago, pricing was based on a basic flight ticket that included everything, and taxes and security levies were added to it," explains Yehuda Zafrani, an expert in tourism and international aviation at the Hoot consumer club. "Around 2013, when low-cost airlines entered Israel, they created a revolution. The model sold us only a seat. The tickets are indeed very cheap, but if you want to add luggage, for example, it will cost more money."

"If a company sells a ticket for $99, it's a loss-making price, no doubt about it. But today, low-cost companies are the most profitable in Europe, with profits of $2 billion per year. This happens because of ancillary products. Want to sit in the seat you are used to? Pay in advance. Want a pillow? Pay. Want to eat? Pay. In practice, you can buy a ticket for $100, but pay another $100 for round-trip luggage."

To illustrate how much these ancillary products contribute to the revenues of low-cost companies: in March 2026, Ryanair reported a 6% increase in its revenues from ancillary products—about 5 billion euros in total, 32% of its total revenues. The largest airline in the UK, easyJet, earned almost 2.6 billion pounds from them in the year ending in September 2025—about a quarter of its total revenues.

"This model puts you in a honey trap," explains Dr. Uzi Freund-Feinstein, an aviation expert and senior official in the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at Kinneret Academic College. "The companies charge you a low amount for the ticket, and once you are inside, you have a feeling that you beat the system and got things cheaply, so you also feel more comfortable spending money on additional things."

"Remember the chicken for a shekel at Rami Levy? It, of course, didn't cover any of his expenses, but he just wanted to get people into the branches so that they would also buy the rest of the items. Airlines bring the customer in with a basic price, and after that, the additional products arrive—luggage, carry-on, seat, entertainment. This is the model: breaking down the flight ticket into as many products as possible that can be charged for."

"The bread and butter of all airlines"

The model may have started with low-cost companies, but it has spread. "In 2025, the total revenues of global aviation stood at about a trillion dollars," explains Zafrani. "About a quarter of the revenues—about $250 billion—came from ancillary products." Freund-Feinstein adds that "full-service airlines joined the party, but a bit more cautiously, due to the fear of blurring the differentiation compared to low-cost companies. There, we will find it only in tourist class, while in business class, you still get all the components under one price. In practice, there is no company in the world that has skipped it; these are the bread and butter of all airlines."

By the way, even for Israeli companies, this is a significant source of income. The revenues of Israir, for example, stood at $690 million in 2025. Of that, about $60 million came from ancillary products—an increase of about 40% compared to 2024. El Al brought in about $3.1 billion in 2025 from passenger flights, of which about $167 million came from ancillary services.

So how much will luggage cost you in Israeli companies? On international flights that are not to the USA or the Far East, the price at Arkia does not include luggage or a carry-on—so when booking in advance, you will pay $50 for luggage up to 20 kg, and a carry-on up to 8 kg will cost $25. At Israir, luggage up to 23 kg will cost you $65, and a carry-on up to 10 kg will cost $30. At Air Haifa, the price of a carry-on varies between $29–39, and the price of luggage between $49–69. If you wait until you reach the counter, the prices will soar.

And what about seating? At Arkia, choosing a regular seat to most destinations will cost $15, at Israir $20, and at Air Haifa $3–6. If you choose to upgrade to preferred and sought-after seats, the price will climb.

At El Al, the situation is a bit simpler. All the company's flights include a carry-on, and a flight to the USA also includes luggage. Regarding luggage and seating on other flights, upgrading the ticket to a CLASSIC ticket can provide both, but the price varies from destination to destination. In Europe, upgrading the ticket will cost $40–55 each way. If you choose to take only luggage or seating, the price may be more expensive than upgrading the ticket—so sometimes it is simply not worth it.

"In the end, these companies also compete for the destinations of the low-cost carriers, and they need to lower prices to even be an option for passengers," explains Freund-Feinstein. "If El Al, for example, wants to compete with the prices of Wizz Air, it needs to be creative and also offer low and broken-down prices."

Product pricing has gone out of control

In terms of customer experience, it is unpleasant to discover that more money has been added to the initial price, but there is no doubt that there is an advantage here. The low-cost model allowed prices to drop, and flights became much more accessible. "Until the coronavirus, low-cost flights reached almost 30% of the market share of all flights at Ben Gurion Airport," notes Zafrani. "If you want to fly without food and without anything, why should you pay $400?"

"There is logic in this," says Freund-Feinstein. "If I am flying for a day, I don't necessarily need to eat or have luggage, but at most a laptop. But it is still annoying—if I am a businessman who flies quite a bit, why do I need to deal with this story? So yes, the companies also offer a ticket that includes everything, but usually, it includes all the things they want me to take, and it is much higher—this is not just a sum of the services."

Experts agree that the pricing of services has gone out of control. "The pricing of ancillary services today is disproportionate; it is really net profit that airlines are raking in," says Zafrani. "There are companies that charge $30 at the airport if you don't check in online; it's crazy."

Reform in Europe—"huge savings potential"

The news from last week regarding the approval of a reform in the aviation industry in the European Union, which includes adding a carry-on of up to 7 kg to every flight ticket, is a real change. The rules are expected to come into effect during 2027 and, for now, apply to companies in the EU, such as Wizz Air and Ryanair. "There is huge savings potential here," says Zafrani. "The reform includes canceling fines for people who make a mistake in one letter of their name, regulates the seating of children next to their parents, and the highlight—finally, we will be able to go on a trip with another carry-on without additional payment. This is news for all of Europe, and I hope we will see it in Israel too."

To the question regarding the quality of the news, since the companies can simply raise the basic price, Zafrani answers: "In the end, it's a matter of competition. When El Al and large companies had to compete with low-cost carriers, they found a way to lower prices. So even if the law requires including a carry-on, it will not be priced at $50–100, as sometimes happens today. It is possible they will price it, but for less."

Thus, this reform may change the starting point of the competition and make the price presented to the consumer closer to the price they will pay in the bottom line.