Airline passengers’ perceptions of service quality: themes in online reviews

Purpose This paper aims to identify the main themes shared in online reviews by airline travellers, as well as which of these themes were linked with higher and lower value for money ratings. Design/methodology/approach The research used mixed content analyses (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of contemporary hospitality management 2019-02, Vol.31 (2), p.855-873
Main Authors: Brochado, Ana, Rita, Paulo, Oliveira, Cristina, Oliveira, Fernando
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air travel
Airline industry
Airports
Brand loyalty
Competition
Customer relationship management
Customer satisfaction
Customer services
Employees
Hospitality industry
Literature reviews
Passengers
Quality of service
Social networks
Studies
User generated content
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Summary:Purpose This paper aims to identify the main themes shared in online reviews by airline travellers, as well as which of these themes were linked with higher and lower value for money ratings. Design/methodology/approach The research used mixed content analyses (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) to examine 1,200 reviews of six airline companies shared by airline travellers in a social media platform. Findings The analyses revealed nine themes in descriptions of airline travel experiences. These are the core services during “flights”, “airport” operations, crew and ground “staff”, ticket “classes”, “seats”, inflight “services”, “entertainment”, overall experiences of “airlines” and post-purchase recommendations of with which companies to “fly”. Low value for money ratings are linked with the “airport” and “flights” themes. Originality/value The results offer useful insights into airline travellers’ overall experiences based on social media information and facilitate the identification of the main themes linked with different value for money ratings.
ISSN:0959-6119
1757-1049
DOI:10.1108/IJCHM-09-2017-0572