We have a high opinion of airports
PBIA, MIA rate well in customer survey.
As airports adopt more technology to speed travelers through check-in gates, security and customs, and offer new services from phone jacks to baby lounges, fliers are becoming more satisfied with the way they’re treated on the ground, a new survey shows.
In fact, passenger satisfaction with North American airports is at an all-time high as facilities find creative ways to juggle expansion and improvements while meeting growing consumer demand, according to a J.D. Power & Associates survey released Thursday.
Overall, passenger satisfaction with airport experiences in 2017 scored 749 on a scale of 1,000, an improvement of 18 points from last year, the firm’s 2017 North America Airline Satisfaction Study showed. That’s up from 675 in 2008.
In South Florida, the Palm Beach International and Miami International airports received above-average scores when ranked against their peers in their respective medium and mega airport categories.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, however, placed 19th out of the 21 airports surveyed in the large category.
“Capacity has become a huge challenge for North American airports, with many reporting 100 percent of available parking spots being filled,” said Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s travel practice chief, in a news release. “Despite these difficulties, airports are responding with new technology and old-fashioned personal skills to win over harried travelers.”
Those new initiatives include smartphone apps that help travelers locate empty parking spots, therapy dog “greeters,” self-service bag-check kiosks and bagtagging equipment, he said.
The J.D. Power study measures overall traveler satisfaction based on six factors: terminal facilities, airport accessibility, security check, baggage claim, check-in/baggage check and food, beverage and retail.
“Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood saw improvements in bag claim, security check and food, beverage and retail,” Taylor said. “Other [large] airports just had better scores.”
Airport spokesman Greg Meyer said the survey’s results and its overall ranking were disappointing given the completed or ongoing improvements in check-in, bag claim and food/ beverage/retail services.
Still, he said more will be done to continue enhancing the airport’s travel experience with a $2.3 billion capital improvement
“Capacity has become a huge challenge for North American airports, with many reporting 100 percent of available parking spots being filled.” Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s travel practice chief
project underway.
“We know we have a lot of work ahead and plan to set the bar for other largehub airports when it comes to the passenger experience,” Meyer said.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and other U.S. airports undergoing major terminal expansions and construction projects this year have grappled with operational challenges, officials have said.
“The trifecta of a steadily improving economy, record passenger volume and billion-dollar renovation projects unfolding in airports across the country has created a challenging environment for customer satisfaction,” Taylor said. “The fact that many airports are overcoming those challenges is incredibly instructive for the industry as it remodels and improves airport infrastructure.”
Palm Beach International, which ranked fifth in its category did “very
well getting people through security check,” he said.
Miami International scored 12th in the survey’s mega airport category, although it was knocked by travelers as being “hard to access.” The airport scored the highest marks for food, beverage and retail, Taylor said.
“MIA is an airport success story in our history of this study,” Taylor said. The airport has made significant strides in customer service improvements overall during the last decade.
For 2017, the overall improvement was driven largely by a 25-point increase in travelers’ satisfaction with security clearance as the Transportation Security Administration faced fewer staffing issues, J.D. Power said. Check-in/ bag check and food, beverage and retail also fared better with average scores increasing by 19 and 15 points respectively from 2016.
The top scoring airports in their respective categories were Orlando International (mega), John Wayne Airport (large) and Sacramento International (medium).
Findings of the 2017 airline satisfaction study — the 12th edition — were based on responses from 34,695 North American travelers polled from January through August.