Following my post on Expedia’s annual survey of poor passenger behaviour, I have been considering how can airlines and authorities improve the situation?
In 1993, Park, Robertson and Wu found that service value, passenger satisfaction, and airline image each have a direct effect on passengers’ behaviour. Meeting (or exceeding) passenger expectations raise passenger satisfaction levels and results in better behaviour.
So what would I do to fix things?:
- Create more pleasant airports- compare the stress levels of passengers at Singapore airport with JFK!
- Rethink the check-in, security and boarding procedures which result in passengers doing a lot of standing and waiting and doing nothing
At Cebu Airport in December 2016
- Get rid of excessive security queues by putting on enough staff
- Make the security process much more respectful and calm-there is too much screeching at passengers across US airports
- Stop charging people for checked luggage-this would eliminate the first battle of the Boarding
- Reduce stress for passengers in the Boarding process
- Make etiquette announcements in the boarding area prior to Boarding
- Pay Airline Flight attendants for the whole of their shift and not just flying time
- Increase seat pitch even if it means higher fares. There needs to be a minimum seat pitch
- Ban reclining seats
- Reward good behaviour- passengers could nominate another passenger on a flight for a bonus stuffed toy or 200 frequent flyer points?
Related Posts
- Is Flying getting worse or better? Reflections on four+ decades of airflights
- Flying like a Fijian -tips for all airline passengers, I reckon
- Obnoxious Flyers increase–why?
- Don’t be an A### hole
- Treat People with Respect
#8 Haha. While that would be great I suspect it will go the opposite direction. Airlines will distribute activity sensors for FAs to wear. They’ll only get paid when they’re actively working.
These ideas range from economically infeasible to just plain ridiculous, and none of them have anything to do with passenger behavior. The vast majority of people deal with stressful travel without resorting to sociopathic behavior. A better solution would be be simply for airlines and authorities to hold those bad behaving passengers more accountable.
There are some really good suggestions in this post. Unfortunately, none of them can be controlled by us. There’s a lot to be said about creating a better environment and process that reduces stress and makes the flying experience better.
A superb list.