Delivering a first class travel experience for passengers

Abstract

Airport travel has become a great contradiction. Airport managers find themselves at the helm of an operation that has the potential to create great joy and excitement among passengers at one moment and engender frustration and stress at another. In a complex, multifaceted airport experience and in an era where technology is changing rapidly, where safety and security challenges arise constantly and where passengers tread this knife edge of positive and negative emotions, how can airport managers hope to deliver a ‘first class travel experience’? This paper provides some insight into how one airport in Dublin, Ireland, has taken on this task. From a comprehensive research and feedback programme, monitoring performance statistics as well as wider trends influencing passengers, to a strategy based on passenger needs, Dublin Airport has substantially turned the dial in terms of passenger satisfaction. Leveraging available data and online and mobile channels with innovation in its thinking and approach, Dublin Airport has implemented a range of helpful solutions for its passengers. These initiatives are wrapped up in a service promise that has real people at its core and a positioning that recognises that ‘value for money’ and ‘value for time’ are key features of a ‘first class travel experience’.