01620166

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2626-05

The number of international travelers traveling through U.S. airports is increasing because of the proliferation of longer-range aircraft, expanding global alliances, and a growing middle class from developing nations. Each international airport has a unique design, and many international travelers experience difficulty finding their way in unfamiliar airports. The wayfinding task is made more difficult when combined with other factors such as traveler anxiety, jet lag, and unfamiliarity with the local language and culture. To understand better the challenges faced by international travelers, a literature review, a human factors task analysis, and an international traveler intercept survey were carried out to determine traveler needs, expectations, and key factors that affect traveler satisfaction with an airport. Four traveler surveys were developed and administered to different traveler groups. Surveys were administered at the eight U.S. gateway airports with the most international travelers. Some key findings were as follows: (a) all traveler groups identified easy wayfinding as being the most important airport feature, with travelers transferring between two flights rating it highest; (b) in comparison to other traveler groups, arriving travelers rated short walking distance as being much more important than other features; (c) travelers making a connection between two international flights did not expect that they would need to collect and recheck their bags while in transit; (d) travelers making a connection between two international flights had the lowest overall satisfaction as compared with the other traveler groups; and (e) only one-third of travelers making a connection between two international flights had a positive experience with the walking distance between flights.

01629683

17-04834

English

pp 34–41

2017

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309441858

Digital/other

Figures (4) ; References (19) ; Tables (3)

Airports; Baggage; Customer satisfaction; International travel; Public opinion; Travel behavior; Walking distance; Wayfinding

Aviation; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 11:51AM

• Accuracy Assessment of Aircraft Transponder–Based Devices for Measuring Airport Operations
• Cooperation Between Science and Aviation-Sector Service Providers in Europe for Risk Management of Volcanic Ash
• Development and Evaluation of Enhanced Airfield Signage for Temporary Information
• Human Factors Impacts of Light-Emitting Diode Airfield Lighting
• Investigating Neighborhood Change in Airport-Adjacent Communities in Multiairport Regions, 1970–2010
• Modeling Small Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Flow Under External Force
• Multiscale Network Model for Evaluating Global Outbreak Control Strategies
• Understanding Issues in Airport Ground Access Modeling: Lessons from a Revealed Preference Study of New York Metropolitan Area Airports
• Understanding the Trade-Off Between Maximum Passenger Throughput and Airline Equity in Allocating Capacity Under Severe Weather Conditions
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicle–Based Traffic Analysis: Methodological Framework for Automated Multivehicle Trajectory Extraction
• Use of Continuous Friction Measurement Equipment to Predict Runway Condition Rating on Unpaved Runways