AIRLINE SERVICE FAILURE AND RECOVERY: THE IMPACT OF RELATIONSHIP FACTORS ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Abstract

In aviation industries, service failure during the service delivery process is foreseeable and leads to passenger complaints, which therefore presents the perfect opportunity for airlines to improve their service process and quality and examine their internal organization. Concurrently, the quality of the service recovery measures reflects the ability of airlines to respond to and handle traveler complaints. By rectifying service failures, airlines can enhance traveler satisfaction toward airlines services, thereby generating loyal customers who would engage in word-of-mouth marketing. This study aims to do examine the relationship between service failure, service recovery and passenger’s satisfaction with service recovery types, employee prompt handling, and service recovery efficiency. The questionnaires used in this study consisted of three sections: (1) Customers’ perception of the service recovery types; this section entails using passengers’ subjective perceptions to evaluate the service recovery types adopted by the airlines when handling flight delay situations. (2) Customers’ perception of the airlines employee’s prompt handling; the traveler’s subjective perception to evaluate the airlines employees’ direct responses to flight delays. (3) Customers’ perception of the problem-solving efficiency; this section involves using the passengers’ subjective perception to evaluate the overall flight delay recovery progress. The traveler characteristics were divided into ‘passenger attributes’ and ‘traveling attributes’ and their relationships with service recovery types, employee’s prompt handling, and problem solving efficiency were examined. The research results showed that passenger attributes demonstrated no significant differences with the three dimensions (i.e., service recovery types, employee’s prompt handling, and problem solving efficiency). However, concerning traveling attributes, ‘purpose of travel’ and ‘flight delay experience’ demonstrated significant differences with the three
dimensions.