Which Airlines Have the Best (and Worst) Fees in 2025?

Air travel costs come in two parts: the face value of the ticket, and the many fees that airlines add on during the booking or check-in process. These days, some airline fees can cost more than the fare itself.

This isn’t a mistake. Online travel agencies and search engines incentivize airlines to keep their base ticket prices low, so they show up higher in search results. Airlines recoup costs through fees for extra perks, like baggage, priority boarding and window seats. That $100 airfare on a budget airline like Frontier Airlines could actually be more expensive than a $159 fare on a full-service airline like Delta Air Lines after factoring in fees.

We analyzed two common fee categories — baggage and seat selection — across nine major U.S. airlines, to better understand the true cost of flying on each airline.

Here's what we found are the best and worst airlines for fees in 2025.

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NerdWallet calculated the total average additional cost per traveler when they opted to select a seat, bring one carry-on bag and check one bag. We collected the costs of these add-ons for two dozen flights across various dates in 2025. Keep in mind many fees vary by individual flight, so your specific route might have different costs.

Here are the average combined seat selection and baggage fees among U.S. airlines, sorted by lowest to highest average fees:

Southwest Airlines has made low fees a cornerstone of its business, so its win is no surprise.

As of now, the airline offers two free checked bags per passenger — something you won't find on any other major U.S. air carrier. It also had a longtime open seating policy, so all customers can choose their seats once they board the aircraft.

But some aspects of that are set to change. Southwest announced that changes are coming in 2025, including that it will assign seats and offer premium seating options on flights in the future. More details are set to come later in 2025, but for now, Southwest still wins as the airline with the fewest fees.

Winner: Southwest Airlines

Southwest allows you to bring not just one, but two checked bags for $0. Southwest doesn't charge checked bag fees until you pack a third checked bag.

Most other major airlines in the U.S. charge about $35 to $40 for checked bags, up from the average of $30 a year ago. Many airlines raised checked bag fees in 2024, and JetBlue even introduced surge pricing for baggage. That means bags cost more if you fly on a high-demand day. In most cases, you'll save some money for paying for your checked bag online at least 24 hours ahead of your flight.

Now there are ways to avoid paying checked bag fees altogether on most airlines. Many airlines offer co-branded credit cards that offer complimentary checked bags, which can make the annual fee worth it for travelers who fly with bags (or companions with bags) on at least three one-way flights per year.

» Learn more: Calculator: How much does that basic economy seat really cost?

Note: We did not include international baggage fees in this analysis. These fees vary by destination, airline and whether partner airlines are involved.

Airline fees are a complicated headache, and it can be easy to give up on parsing them. Yet we found that airlines differ significantly in the frequency and cost of baggage and seat selection fees. Choosing to fly with Southwest — while avoiding Frontier and Spirit — is a good way to avoid these pesky fees.

If you don’t have much choice in which airline to fly, consider other strategies for avoiding fees: Get a branded airline credit card that covers baggage fees, and opt out of seat selection altogether whenever possible. You might get stuck in a middle seat near the bathroom, but you might also score a seat near the front of the plane without paying a dime.

Note that we did not cover every airline fee in this analysis. Change fees, Wi-Fi, food and even a bottle of water on some airlines can tack on even more to the base price of your airfare. This a la carte approach to pricing means lower costs in travel search results, but higher overall costs for travelers who usually buy those things. Savvy customers can take advantage of this system by both opting out of the more ludicrous add-ons.

How we picked the airlines to evaluate

For an airline to be eligible, it had to be based in the U.S. and have a publicly available rewards search calendar with availability from 15 days to eight months from the time of the search.

Nine airlines fit these criteria: Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United.

How we analyzed fees

We compared the cost of fees across several fare classes in two categories: (1) carry-on bag fees, (2) first checked bag fee and (2) seat assignment fees. Two airlines in our analysis, Spirit and Frontier, charge for carry-on bags.

How we verified our data

We independently spot-checked data collected to ensure accuracy. Information about fees was verified on the airlines’ websites.