Thesis Proposal
Geographic Perceptions of the Air
Travel Experience
Jonathon Nield
Arizona State University
Aviation Management
& Human Factors Program
Overview
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Introduction
Hypothesis
Problem
Purpose
Objectives
Literature Review
• Literature Review (cont.)
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– Introduction
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– Safety and Consumer
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Demand
– Service Quality Pre/Post •
9/11
– Service Quality
– Expectations and
Perceptions
– Conclusion
Methodology
Participants
Questionnaire
Sources
Introduction
• Examine whether a relationship exists
between consumer perception of the air travel
experience and the competitive makeup of
various geographic markets.
Hypothesis
• There is a direct relationship between the
competition of an airline within a geographic
market and the consumer’s perceptions of the
air travel experience.
Problem
• Public perception of the airline industry is
deteriorating.
• Regulatory pressures regarding service quality
are increasing.
• Airlines are faced with the challenge of
competing in markets with heterogeneous
demographics and competitors, adding
further complexity to managing consumer
perceptions.
Purpose
• Enable airlines, airports, federal agencies,
associations, and other entities to dissect
consumer perceptions with a precision that
allows for corrective action as well as
preventative action to weaknesses or threats
to public perception.
Objectives
• Research and examine consumer priorities in their
selection of an airline and compare each element against
various geographic regions.
• Research and assess the applicability of other measures in
use such as the Airline Quality Report (AQR) to consumer
perceptions.
• Study the interactions of various airline experience
elements regarding how they affect each other.
• Measure the expected level of service and satisfaction of
the air travel experience.
• Create an index that is a relative measure of consumer
satisfaction accounting for the consumer experience from
point of purchase to exiting destination airport.
• Create a repeatable data collection process to collect
diverse data representative of various types of consumers.
Literature Review
Literature Review: Introduction
• Consumer perception of the airline industry’s
quality of service has been shown to be declining
over the past few decades despite better
aircrafts, more services, and more choices.
• Airlines are a vital component of U.S. commerce
and any declines in the public’s faith and
utilization of this industry should be alarming to
airline management as well as government
officials.
• In 2010, U.S. airlines carried 629,517,348
consumers domestically and 88,206,634
consumers to international destinations on a
total revenue of over $130.5 Billion (BTS, 2011)
Airline Safety & Consumer Demand
• Squalli and Saad discovered in their research that
there is no statistical evidence of a correlation
between consumer perceptions and the number
of enplanements (2006).
• Accidents with serious injuries has a greater
impact on enplanements than accidents with
fatalities (Squalli and Saad, 2006).
• Following TWA, 85% of frequent consumers
believed more money should be spent on safety
even if resulting in a higher fare (Cobb and Primo,
2003).
Airline Service Quality Pre/Post 9/11
• Cunningham, Young, and Lee conducted a
longitudinal study on consumer perceptions of
airline service quality as well as risks before and
after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
• The final analysis of the research showed that the
9/11 terrorist attacks did have an effect on
enplanements.
• Overall satisfaction with the airline industry,
brand satisfaction, and intention to repatronize
the consumers’ brand of choice was not affected.
• External shocks to a brand do not affect its
positioning with a consumer’s mind.
Airline Service Quality
• Study done by Tiernan, Rhoades & Waguespack (2008)
set out to determine whether a discrepancy exists
between reported performance metrics of service
quality and consumer perception.
• The results of the study showed that airline
performance perceptions are worse than secondary
metrics provided by the Department of Transportation
show.
• Former Delta CEO Leo Mullin commented (Thurston,
2000) the airlines suffer from the “challenge of the
crowds.” Even if performance indicators lead over 90%99%, those thousands with the negative experience
may become the perceptions of the majority.
Expectation and Perceptions
Researchers
Airline Service Quality Elements
Gourdin (1988)
Price, safety, and timelines
Elliott and Roach (1993)
Timeliness, luggage transport, food and beverage quality,
seat comfort, the check in process, and in-flight service
dimensions
Ostrowski et al. (1993)
Timeliness, food and beverage quality, and comfort of
seat dimensions
Truitt and Haynes (1994)
Check-in process, the convenience of transit, the
processing of luggage, timeliness, seat cleanliness, food
and beverage quality, and handling of customer
complaints
Bowen and Headley (2000)
On-time arrival, mishandled baggage, being denied
boardings, and airline safety
Pakdil & Aydin, 2007
Consumer complaints on items such as flight,
reservation, ticketing and boarding problems, fares,
refunds, customer service, advertising, and frequent
flyer programs
Literature Review: Conclusion
• A gap in research that addresses the variations
of the perceived level of service on the basis
of geographic markets. The influence that
geographic markets have on the perception of
the air travel experience will be addressed in
this study.
Methodology
• Use of multiple regression analysis to establish
whether the variables in differing geographic
markets impact the perceptions of consumers.
• Identify the specific elements of the air travel
experience that vary within geographic markets.
• Participants complete a Likert questionnaire to
measure the perceived level of service during
their recent air travel and compare those results
against the expected level of service in each
geographic market.
Participants
• Participation will be solicited from airports,
frequent flyer organizations, corporations, and
the general public through the use of various
web and social media channels as well as
traditional paper and pencil use.
• Participating airports: Dallas-Fort Worth
International, Phoenix Sky Harbor
International, Denver International, and
Jackson Hartfield International
Participants
• The questionnaire will include questions relating
to the subject’s demographics and travel patterns
including:
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Gender
Age
Zip code
Income
Leisure/Business/Both flyer
Frequency of flying
Most traveled destinations
Frequent flyer memberships
Questionnaire
• The questionnaire will be divided into 5 parts:
– Airport Arrival
– Ticketing/Check In
– Security
– Lounge
– Inflight
– Airport Departure
Sources
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Squalli, J., & Saad, M. (2006). Accidents, Airline Safety Perceptions and Demand. Journal of Economics and
Finance, 30(Fall), 297-305. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com
Cobb, R. W. and Primo, D. M. (2003). The Plane Truth: Airline Crashes, the Media, and Transportation
Policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Lee, M., Young, C., Cunningham, L., & Wadsworth, L. (2002). Perceptions of airline service quality: Pre and
Post 9/11, Public Works Management Policy. Retrieved from http://pwm.sagepub.com
Tiernan, S., Rhoades, D., & Waguespack, B. (2008). Airline service quality: Exploratory analysis of consumer
perceptions and operational performance in the USA and EU. Vol. 18(3), 212-224. Emerald Group
Publishing, Limited.
Thurston, S. (2000), Delta: Mullin's Mark Q&A: ‘We fight to boost service.’ Atlanta Journal- Constitutiona,
Vol. 16, April, p. H8.
Gourdin, K. (1988). Bringing quality back to commercial travel. Transportation Journal 27, 23–29. Retrieved
from http://web.ebscohost.com
Elliott, K.M., and Roach, D.W. (1993). Service quality in the airline industry: are carrier getting an unbiased
evaluation from consumers? Journal of Professional Services Marketing 9, 71–82.
Ostrowski, P.L., O’Brien, T.V., and Gordon, G.L. (1993). Service quality and customer loyalty in the
commercial airline industry. Journal of Travel Research, 32, 16–24. Retrieved from
http://jtr.sagepub.com
Truitt, L.J. and Haynes, R. (1994). Evaluating service quality and productivity in the regional airline industry.
Transportation Journal 33, 21–32.
Bowen, B.D. & Headley, D.E. (2010). Airline Quality Rating Report 2010. Wichita, KS: W. Frank Barton
School of Business. Retrieved from www.aqr.aero.
Pakdil, F. and Aydın, O. (2007). Expectations and perceptions in airline services: An analysis using weighted
SERVQUAL scores. Journal of Air Transport Management 13, 229–237