$400 Ticket, $7 Profit: Where Airline Money Really Goes
The Money Trail
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You paid $400 for a plane ticket. The airline keeps about $7. Where did the other $393 go?
We traced every dollar of an average US domestic round-trip ticket through real airline filings, federal data, and industry reports: the $57 in taxes and fees that never touches the airline, the $114 that pays the pilots and crew, the $65 of jet fuel, the cut for airports, maintenance, the plane itself, the middlemen who sold you the ticket, and the $7.27 billion bag-fee machine that keeps the whole industry alive.
CHAPTERS
0:00 The $7 mystery
0:35 Is $400 even normal?
1:10 $57 in taxes (exact math)
1:55 Labor: $114
2:35 Fuel: $65, the wild card
3:20 Airport fees: $24
3:50 Maintenance: $20
4:20 The plane itself: $17
4:50 The middlemen: $14
5:25 Pretzels and soda: $10
5:50 The $94 miscellaneous drawer
6:25 The punchline: $7 profit
7:20 The twist: bag fees and the tax dodge
SOURCES
Airlines for America, "State of U.S. Commercial Aviation" (May 2023): operating-cost shares from SEC filings of 10 US airlines (labor 34%, fuel 20%, maintenance 6%, landing fees and rents 7%, depreciation 5%, regional 5%, other 23%)
Delta Air Lines, Form 10-K FY2024: fuel $10,566M ($2.57/gal avg), salaries $16,161M, landing fees $3,150M, maintenance $2,616M, depreciation $2,513M, selling expenses $2,485M, passenger service $1,788M
IATA Global Financial Outlook (Dec 2024): 2025 forecast $36.6B net profit, 3.6% margin, $7.00 per passenger
US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics: average domestic round-trip fare $385 in 2024; 1Q 2024 domestic opex split (fuel 18.2%, labor 35.7%); $7.27B in checked-bag fees in 2024
FAA 2026 Aviation Excise Tax rates: 7.5% ticket tax, $5.30 domestic segment fee; Sept 11 security fee $5.60/one-way; PFC up to $4.50/segment
American Airlines FY2024 results: selling expenses $1,812M (3.3% of revenue), net income $846M
US DOT Airline Quarterly Financial Review Q4 2025: 2024 net income, Delta $3,757.4M, United $3,151.1M, American $1,262.4M, Southwest $465.2M
AltexSoft / Ann Cederhall (2026): GDS booking fees $3-15 per segment
IATA via trade press: ancillary "extra fees" expected $145B in 2025 (14% of sector revenue)
Note: per-ticket cost shares are illustrative estimates computed from industry-average cost percentages applied to a representative $400 fare, not metered costs from any single ticket. Tax figures are computed from statutory rates. See the full research brief in the video for the complete show-your-work.
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ONLY, not financial or investment advice.
1 Comments
$400 Ticket, $7 Profit: Where Airline Money Really Goes
The Money Trail
10 views
You paid $400 for a plane ticket. The airline keeps about $7. Where did the other $393 go?
We traced every dollar of an average US domestic round-trip ticket through real airline filings, federal data, and industry reports: the $57 in taxes and fees that never touches the airline, the $114 that pays the pilots and crew, the $65 of jet fuel, the cut for airports, maintenance, the plane itself, the middlemen who sold you the ticket, and the $7.27 billion bag-fee machine that keeps the whole industry alive.
CHAPTERS
0:00 The $7 mystery
0:35 Is $400 even normal?
1:10 $57 in taxes (exact math)
1:55 Labor: $114
2:35 Fuel: $65, the wild card
3:20 Airport fees: $24
3:50 Maintenance: $20
4:20 The plane itself: $17
4:50 The middlemen: $14
5:25 Pretzels and soda: $10
5:50 The $94 miscellaneous drawer
6:25 The punchline: $7 profit
7:20 The twist: bag fees and the tax dodge
SOURCES
Airlines for America, "State of U.S. Commercial Aviation" (May 2023): operating-cost shares from SEC filings of 10 US airlines (labor 34%, fuel 20%, maintenance 6%, landing fees and rents 7%, depreciation 5%, regional 5%, other 23%)
Delta Air Lines, Form 10-K FY2024: fuel $10,566M ($2.57/gal avg), salaries $16,161M, landing fees $3,150M, maintenance $2,616M, depreciation $2,513M, selling expenses $2,485M, passenger service $1,788M
IATA Global Financial Outlook (Dec 2024): 2025 forecast $36.6B net profit, 3.6% margin, $7.00 per passenger
US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics: average domestic round-trip fare $385 in 2024; 1Q 2024 domestic opex split (fuel 18.2%, labor 35.7%); $7.27B in checked-bag fees in 2024
FAA 2026 Aviation Excise Tax rates: 7.5% ticket tax, $5.30 domestic segment fee; Sept 11 security fee $5.60/one-way; PFC up to $4.50/segment
American Airlines FY2024 results: selling expenses $1,812M (3.3% of revenue), net income $846M
US DOT Airline Quarterly Financial Review Q4 2025: 2024 net income, Delta $3,757.4M, United $3,151.1M, American $1,262.4M, Southwest $465.2M
AltexSoft / Ann Cederhall (2026): GDS booking fees $3-15 per segment
IATA via trade press: ancillary "extra fees" expected $145B in 2025 (14% of sector revenue)
Note: per-ticket cost shares are illustrative estimates computed from industry-average cost percentages applied to a representative $400 fare, not metered costs from any single ticket. Tax figures are computed from statutory rates. See the full research brief in the video for the complete show-your-work.
EDUCATIONAL CONTENT ONLY, not financial or investment advice.
- Airlines for America, State of U.S. Commercial Aviation (May 2023): https://www.airlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/A4A-State-of-US-Commercial-Aviation-21.pdf
- Delta Air Lines 10-K FY2024: https://s2.q4cdn.com/181345880/files/doc_financials/2024/q4/DAL-12-31-2024-10K-2-11-25-Filed.pdf
- IATA Global Financial Outlook Dec 2024: https://airlinergs.com/iata-airline-industry-revenues-expected-to-surpass-1tn-in-2025/
- BTS domestic fare/fuel data via Hospitality Trends: https://www.htrends.com/trends-detail-sid-131954.html
- FAA 2026 aviation excise tax rates: https://www.faa.gov/about/budget/aatf/Current-Aviation-Excise-Tax-Structure-and-Rates-2026.pdf
- American Airlines FY2024 results: https://markets.financialcontent.com/prnews.pressre/article/gnwcq-2025-1-23-american-airlines-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2024-financial-results
- DOT Airline Quarterly Financial Review Q4 2025: https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2026-06/2025q4_Quarterly_Financial_Review_Majors.pdf
Per-ticket cost shares are illustrative estimates from industry-average percentages, not metered costs from any single ticket.