IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v43y2015icp4-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of baggage fees on passenger demand on US air routes

Author

Listed:
  • Scotti, Davide
  • Dresner, Martin

Abstract

In recent years, US airlines have unbundled ancillary fees from base air fares. As a result, the carriers have implemented a variety of fees on a range of optional services. Among these, checked baggage fees now represent a significant source of airline revenues. This paper assesses the impact of baggage fees on passenger demand and airline fares. We study a sample of US domestic routes over the period 2007–2010 where passengers have a choice between carriers that charge fees for checked baggage and Southwest Airlines, which allows passengers one or two “free” checked bags. A system of simultaneous equations is estimated. Our results show that, on an average route, a $1 increase in baggage fee leads to a loss of 0.7 passengers and is associated with a $0.11 reduction in fare levels. Interestingly, an equivalent increase of $1 in fares results in a much greater decline in passengers (eight times greater). Therefore, our results support the idea that substituting additional baggage fees for higher fares may be a beneficial strategy for carriers in terms of generating revenues and maintaining market share.

Suggested Citation

  • Scotti, Davide & Dresner, Martin, 2015. "The impact of baggage fees on passenger demand on US air routes," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 4-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:43:y:2015:i:c:p:4-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2015.05.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X15000736
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2015.05.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hofer, Christian & Windle, Robert J. & Dresner, Martin E., 2008. "Price premiums and low cost carrier competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 864-882, September.
    2. Brons, Martijn & Pels, Eric & Nijkamp, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2002. "Price elasticities of demand for passenger air travel: a meta-analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 165-175.
    3. Pathomsiri, Somchai & Haghani, Ali & Dresner, Martin & Windle, Robert J., 2008. "Impact of undesirable outputs on the productivity of US airports," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 235-259, March.
    4. Barone, Gerhard J. & Henrickson, Kevin E. & Voy, Annie, 2011. "Baggage Fees and Airline Performance: A Case Study of Initial Investor Misperception," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 51(1).
    5. Severin Borenstein, 1989. "Hubs and High Fares: Dominance and Market Power in the U.S. Airline Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(3), pages 344-365, Autumn.
    6. Borenstein, Severin & Rose, Nancy L, 1994. "Competition and Price Dispersion in the U.S. Airline Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 653-683, August.
    7. Evans, William N & Froeb, Luke M & Werden, Gregory J, 1993. "Endogeneity in the Concentration-Price Relationship: Causes, Consequences, and Cures," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 431-438, December.
    8. Wen-Chyuan Chiang & Jason C.H. Chen & Xiaojing Xu, 2007. "An overview of research on revenue management: current issues and future research," International Journal of Revenue Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 97-128.
    9. Michael J. Mazzeo, 2002. "Competitive Outcomes in Product-Differentiated Oligopoly," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(4), pages 716-728, November.
    10. Steven A. Morrison, 2001. "Actual, Adjacent, and Potential Competition Estimating the Full Effect of Southwest Airlines," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 239-256, May.
    11. Garrow, Laurie A. & Hotle, Susan & Mumbower, Stacey, 2012. "Assessment of product debundling trends in the US airline industry: Customer service and public policy implications," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 255-268.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yazdi, Amirhossein A. & Dutta, Pritha & Steven, Adams B., 2017. "Airline baggage fees and flight delays: A floor wax and dessert topping?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 83-96.
    2. Botteon Costa, Raone & Ferman, Bruno & Monte, Daniel, 2020. "Baggage fees in airlines: Is this a good idea?," MPRA Paper 101864, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Yang, Chih-Wen, 2016. "Entry effect of low-cost carriers on airport-pairs demand model using market concentration approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 291-297.
    4. Stacey Mumbower & Susan Hotle & Laurie A. Garrow, 2023. "Highly debated but still unbundled: The evolution of U.S. airline ancillary products and pricing strategies," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 276-293, August.
    5. Ren, Xinhui & Pan, Na & Jiang, Hong, 2022. "Differentiated pricing for airline ancillary services considering passenger choice behavior heterogeneity and willingness to pay," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 292-305.
    6. Chiambaretto, Paul, 2021. "Air passengers’ willingness to pay for ancillary services on long-haul flights," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    7. Shaban, I.A. & Wang, Z.X. & Chan, F.T.S. & Chung, S.H. & Eltoukhy, A.E.E. & Qu, T., 2019. "Price setting for extra-baggage service for a combination carrier using the newsvendor setup," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1-14.
    8. Zhao, Guihong & Cui, Yue & Cheng, Shaoyu, 2021. "Dynamic pricing of ancillary services based on passenger choice behavior," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Cho, Woohyun & Dresner, Martin E., 2018. "The impact of a baggage fee waiver on airline choice: Evidence from the Washington-Baltimore region," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 4-17.
    10. Wang, Sen & Gao, Yi, 2021. "A literature review and citation analyses of air travel demand studies published between 2010 and 2020," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Adam Bockelie & Peter Belobaba, 2017. "Incorporating ancillary services in airline passenger choice models," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(6), pages 553-568, December.
    12. Scotti, Davide & Dresner, Martin & Martini, Gianmaria, 2016. "Baggage fees, operational performance and customer satisfaction in the US air transport industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 139-146.
    13. Miyoshi, Chikage & Rubio Molina-Prados, Jesus, 2022. "Measuring the impact of long-haul low-cost carriers on lowering fares: A quasi-experimental design to assess the pre-COVID market," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 52-64.
    14. Tsai, Tsung-Hsien, 2016. "Homogeneous service with heterogeneous products: Relationships among airline ticket fares and purchase fences," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 164-175.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Haizhen Lin & Yijia Wang, 2012. "Competition and Price Discrimination in the Parking Garage Industry," Working Papers 2012-07, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.
    2. Oliveira, Marcus V.R. & Oliveira, Alessandro V.M., 2018. "What drives effective competition in the airline industry? An empirical model of city-pair market concentration," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 165-175.
    3. Borsati, Mattia & Fageda, Xavier, 2024. "Airline price responses in the face of demand shocks: European lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    4. Narangajavana, Yeamduan & Garrigos-Simon, Fernando J. & García, Javier Sanchez & Forgas-Coll, Santiago, 2014. "Prices, prices and prices: A study in the airline sector," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 28-42.
    5. Soyk, Christian & Ringbeck, Jürgen & Spinler, Stefan, 2021. "Effect of long-haul low-cost carriers on North Atlantic air fares," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. Kang Hua Cao & Betty Krier & Chia-Mei Liu & Brian McNamara & Jerrod Sharpe, 2017. "The Nonlinear Effects of Market Structure on Service Quality: Evidence from the U.S. Airline Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(1), pages 43-73, August.
    7. Wang, Kun & Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yahua, 2018. "Key determinants of airline pricing and air travel demand in China and India: Policy, ownership, and LCC competition," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 80-89.
    8. Bernardo, Valeria & Fageda, Xavier & Teixidó, Jordi, 2024. "Flight ticket taxes in Europe: Environmental and economic impact," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    9. Fageda, Xavier, 2014. "What hurts the dominant airlines at hub airports?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 177-189.
    10. Gayle, Philip G. & Wu, Chi-Yin, 2013. "A re-examination of incumbents’ response to the threat of entry: Evidence from the airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 119-130.
    11. Kerry M. Tan, 2018. "Outsourcing and Price Competition: An Empirical Analysis of the Partnerships Between Legacy Carriers and Regional Airlines," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 53(2), pages 275-294, September.
    12. Fukui, Hideki, 2019. "How do slot restrictions affect airfares? New evidence from the US airline industry," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 51-71.
    13. Masood Kiarashrad & Seyed Hamid Reza Pasandideh & Mohammad Mohammadi, 2021. "Identifying and prioritizing the essential factors on ticket pricing strategy in a local market based on empirical study: Iranian domestic market," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 76-87, February.
    14. Zhang, Qiong & Yang, Hangjun & Wang, Qiang & Zhang, Anming, 2014. "Market power and its determinants in the Chinese airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-13.
    15. Dresner, Martin & Eroglu, Cuneyt & Hofer, Christian & Mendez, Fabio & Tan, Kerry, 2015. "The impact of Gulf carrier competition on U.S. airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 31-41.
    16. Britto, Rodrigo & Dresner, Martin & Voltes, Augusto, 2012. "The impact of flight delays on passenger demand and societal welfare," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 460-469.
    17. Myongjin Kim & Qihong Liu & Nicholas G. Rupp, 2023. "When Do Firms Offer Higher Product Quality? Evidence from the Allocation of Inflight Amenities," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 62(2), pages 149-177, March.
    18. Patrick Dennis & Kristopher Gerardi & Carola Schenone, 2019. "Common Ownership Does Not Have Anti-Competitive Effects in the Airline Industry," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2019-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    19. Brueckner, Jan K. & Lee, Darin & Singer, Ethan S., 2013. "Airline competition and domestic US airfares: A comprehensivereappraisal," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17.
    20. Yahua Zhang & David Round, 2009. "Policy Implications of the Effects of Concentration and Multimarket Contact in China’s Airline Market," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 34(4), pages 307-326, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:43:y:2015:i:c:p:4-10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.