Abstract
Specific information needs of departing air travelers for pretrip and enroute phases of trips to the airport were studied and identified. From the results, effective plans for providing supplementary information in support of groundside travel information can be developed by local, state, and national agencies. To better understand air passenger information needs, personal interviews were conducted with 216 passengers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. One major finding from this research was that, in general, passengers are content with the types of real-time travel information that are presently available. Specifically, survey results showed that passengers currently use and prefer access to flight information including confirmed schedules, flight delays, and gate assignments. Also, most passengers prefer to receive travel information earlier in their trip (i.e., before beginning their trip), thus validating theories that suggest that if passengers are to effectively evaluate transportation options, they must have information earlier in the decision-making process. Lastly, based on the survey results, air passengers indicated they prefer to use airline employees, e-mail, telephones, and the Internet when making future travel information inquiries. In particular, business travelers were found to have a higher affinity toward e-mail and pagers, whereas younger travelers simply preferred newer technologies to receive travel information. As a result, these population categories are prime targets for information services marketing. Overall, each of these findings was similar to—and confirmed the results from—previous studies.
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