Airline Passenger Experience Survey
Evaluate how passengers compare fares, choose itineraries, and navigate each airport and onboard touchpoint, so you can sharpen acquisition, optimise pricing, and strengthen retention across routes, cabins, trip purposes, and loyalty tiers.
CONTEXT & RELEVANCE
Why run this survey now
Most airlines don't lose passengers purely on ticket price. They lose preference due to booking friction, schedule uncertainty, disruption handling, cabin inconsistency, loyalty complexity, none of which fully show up in NPS dashboards or complaint logs.
If you are...
- Airline commercial leadership
- Customer experience teams
- Digital booking owners
- Airport operations leaders
- Loyalty programme managers
You're likely facing...
- Strong route awareness but weak direct booking conversion across channels
- Inconsistent disruption communication creates avoidable passenger dissatisfaction during delays
- Positive cabin ratings coexist with low repeat preference on competitive routes
- Limited visibility into airport service bottlenecks slows operational prioritisation
- Rising ancillary complexity increases fare abandonment before payment completion
This will help answer...
- Route preference drivers
- Booking abandonment triggers
- Critical journey bottlenecks
- Passenger segment priorities
- Loyalty improvement levers
RESEARCH THEMES
What This Survey Investigates
Eight interconnected research themes that map the complete airline passenger journey from booking to post-flight loyalty.
Search & Consideration
- Route & schedule discovery
- Brand shortlist formation
Fare & Booking
- Fare comparison behaviour
- Payment & checkout friction
Airport Journey
- Check-in & security flow
- Airport service accessibility
Boarding & Departure
- Gate communication clarity
- Boarding process control
Cabin Experience
- Seat & comfort quality
- Crew service consistency
Disruption Recovery
- Delay & cancellation handling
- Recovery communication quality
Baggage & Arrival
- Baggage delivery reliability
- Arrival support experience
Loyalty & Advocacy
- Repeat booking intention
- Loyalty programme relevance
SAMPLING STRATEGY
Tell us about your ideal sample
Help us understand your target respondent profile. Select what applies, we'll design the optimal sample plan based on your inputs.
METHODOLOGY
Survey approach
For Airline Passenger Experience Survey, we recommend a mixed quantitative approach with flexible data-collection modes to balance reach, depth, and verification across routes, cabin classes, trip purposes, and traveller profiles.
EXECUTION PROCESS
How we execute
A proven 9-step process from scoping to delivery, designed to ensure quality, speed, and actionable insights.
Define the decision frame
Confirm objectives, target cohorts, geographies, and reporting cuts
Define the decision frame
Design the instrument
Build workstream modules mapped to outputs (drivers, friction, pricing, retention, trust)
Design the instrument
Lock the questionnaire
Review wording, sequencing, LOI, and competitive context; approve final version
Lock the questionnaire
Pilot and calibrate
Test comprehension and ease quality; refine quotas and remove friction where needed
Pilot and calibrate
Run fieldwork
Execute collection with active quota management and feasibility controls
Run fieldwork
Assure quality
Dedupe, attention checks, speed/consistency rules, removals with audit trail
Assure quality
Prepare the dataset
Clean data and deliver codebook/variable definitions
Prepare the dataset
Analyse and synthesise
Driver ranking, leakage diagnostics, pricing bands, segment insights
Analyse and synthesise
Deliver and align
Executive deck (optional dashboard) and leadership readout with recommendations
Deliver and align
COMMERCIAL TERMS
Request a Commercial Proposal
Pricing depends on cohort, geography, sample size, approach, LOI, and deliverables. Configure below for an indicative estimate.
Select Sample Size
Geography
Select Mode of Survey
Length of the Interview
$0.00
+ applicable taxes
Cost Breakdown
Note: Estimate is indicative only. Final pricing is subject to scope finalization after discovery call.
REFERENCE CASELETS
Reference
Real-world examples of survey work in the commercial aviation space.
Direct Booking Channel Preference Across Competitive Domestic Routes (India)
OBJECTIVE
WHAT WE DID
DELIVERED
Direct Booking Channel Preference Across Competitive Domestic Routes (India)
Ancillary Bundle Design for Long-Haul Leisure Travellers (Southeast Asia)
Direct Booking Channel Preference Across Competitive Domestic Routes (India)
OBJECTIVE
A national airline needed to understand how frequent business travellers , value-seeking leisure passengers , and occasional flyers compared airline websites, online travel agencies, and metasearch platforms when selecting fares, schedules, bundles, and payment options.
WHAT WE DID
We ran a structured online survey across six metro and tier-one markets, using route-level quotas and recent-booker screening. The instrument captured channel consideration , fare transparency , schedule trade-offs, trust signals, payment friction, and abandonment triggers.
DELIVERED
We delivered a channel preference map , route-specific conversion friction list , traveller segment profiles, fare-comparison decision rules, and priority message territories showing which proof points mattered most for direct, intermediary, and undecided bookers.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions about this survey mandate.
What decisions will this survey enable?
Who is the buyer vs who are the respondents?
Can we see differences between business travellers, leisure travellers and visiting-friends-and-relatives passengers?
How will you measure airline choice beyond simple ratings?
Will the survey map the full passenger journey and drop-offs?
Can this survey inform product and pricing strategy?
How will findings improve our direct-booking conversion?
Still have questions?
Schedule a discovery call to discuss your specific needs and get a custom quote.