10 WAYS YOU MAY BE

DAMAGING YOUR PASSENGER EXPERIENCE

WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT.
And how to avoid them
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Improving passenger satisfaction levels is tough

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THE PASSENGER EXPERIENCE IS COMPLEX

Parking
Retail /
F&B
Signage
Access

Check-in

Toilets Gates

Security
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AND ALL IT TAKES IS 1 BAD EXPERIENCE

TO RUIN ALL YOUR EFFORTS

Parking
Retail /
F&B
Signage
Access

Check-in

Toilets Gates

Security
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SO WHY MAKE YOUR JOB HARDER?

PASSENGER DISSATISFACTION USUALLY STEMS

FROM NOT ONE BUT MANY SMALL SERVICE ISSUES

WORKING IN AN AIRPORT YOU GET USED TO THESE

AND IT BECOMES VERY DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY THEM
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SO YOU MAY BE DAMAGING YOUR PASSENGER

EXPERIENCE WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT
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WANT SOME GOOD NEWS?

THE CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION CAN USUALLY BE

FIXED QUICKLY IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK

TO HELP YOU, WE HAVE COMPILED A LIST OF

10 WAYS YOU MAY BE CREATING A MONSTER OF A
PASSENGER EXPERIENCE AT YOUR AIRPORT
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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #1

What it is:
Nothing creates a bad first impression faster than
greeting your passengers with a maze of disney queues
and tenser lines.

Why your passengers hate it:

Even if they are not full it creates a negative first
impression and will make your queues seem longer
than they are, increasing passenger stress levels.

And on top of that it completely blocks passenger flow

forcing people to walk all the way around to avoid them.

How to avoid it:

• Do not cover the whole check-in or security area
with tenser lines and make sure to leave room for
passengers to walk through

• Adapt the length of the queue to passenger traffic

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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #2

What it is:
Designing wayfinding in terms of airport processes
instead of passenger goals.

Why your passengers hate it:

Passengers don’t think in terms of airport processes.
What they want is to reach their goal faster. And most
first time travellers don’t know what airport processes
are in the first place so you are only confusing them.

For instance no passenger wants to go through airport

security. But they want to find their gates.

How to avoid it:

• Create signs that point passengers towards
specific goals (departure gates instead of security
in the example above)

• Design signage for occasional fliers who are not

used to airport processes
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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #3

What it is:
Signage that blends into the surrounding area instead of
standing out.

Why your passengers hate it:

To be effective, signage needs to stand out from the
background and be easy to se from a distance.

When this is not the case you are just making wayfinding
more stressful and complicated for passengers as they
will have to go from sign to sign to find their way.

How to avoid it:

• Use a background colour that stands out

• Use colour combinations that have a high contrast

• Don’t force signage to fit with your corporate

colours when these aren’t optimal
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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #4

What it is:
Overshadowing key wayfinding signage with mega
advertising.

Why your passengers hate it:

When all you can see is the advertising and passengers
have to hunt for the sign, they will begin to feel that the
airport doesn’t really want to make their trip easier.

Key wayfinding signage should not have to compete with

advertising for passenger attention.

How to avoid it:

• Make sure key signage doesn’t compete with
advertising

• Make important signage large and visible from afar

• Keep some prime real estate for wayfinding signage

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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #5

What it is:
Thinking that more signage = better signage.

Why your passengers hate it:

When there are too many signs, passengers will spend
their time going from one to the next to find their way.

Overloading passengers with information is

counterproductive and does not simplify wayfinding. In fact
it increases stress levels by creating a more cluttered,
stressful atmosphere.

How to avoid it:

• Adopt a less is more approach and prefer fewer but
bigger signs
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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #6

What it is:
Believing that duct tape or any other sort of temporary fix
is the solution to maintenance problems.

Why your passengers hate it:

Duct tape may help maintenance fix problems quickly
but from a passenger experience perspective all it does
is make your terminal look cheap and temporary,
destroying your airport ambience.

From a passenger viewpoint it says the airport doesn’t

care any more.

How to avoid it:

• Repair facilities rather than implementing quick,
temporary fixes

• Hide broken facilities behind good quality hoarding

• Use good quality materials for temporary fixes

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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #7

What it is:
Baggage carts, buggies, garbage, litter, etc….
Any kind of equipment or facilities that clutter the
terminal.

Why your passengers hate it:

Clutter is the enemy of great airport ambience. When the
terminal is packed with junk it seems dirtier.

Clutter is a vicious circle. When there is junk in your

terminal, staff and passengers are more likely to leave
things lying around, increasing clutter.

How to avoid it:

• Regularly go through your facilities and remove
anything that absolutely doesn’t need to be there

• Make sure your stakeholders do the same

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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #8

What it is:
Any kind of material or colour that reveals dirt / water in
the washrooms rather than hiding it.

Why your passengers hate it:

Passengers want airport washrooms to be clean.

When the floor of the washroom is splattered with drops

it gives a negative first impression, making them seem
instantly dirty even if they have just been cleaned.

How to avoid it:

• When using dark materials, make sure to put driers
near the sinks to avoid drops on the floor

• Prefer colour schemes and tiling with patterns that

hide the dirt rather than showing it
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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #9

What it is:
Placing FIDS at eye level.

Why your passengers hate it:

When FIDS are placed at eye level only passengers
right in front of them can read them. So you end up with
a crowd standing in front of them and blocking not only
the view but also the passage in the concourse.

This is very frustrating for passengers in a hurry.

How to avoid it:

• Hang FIDS from the ceiling or place them higher up
so all passengers can read them

• Make sure that font sizes are large enough to make

reading easy
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PASSENGER EXPERIENCE MONSTER #10

What it is:
Having insufficient seating in gates or keeping gates
closed until just before boarding.

Why your passengers hate it:

Many passengers like to spend time sitting at the gate.

When this is not possible because the gate is not open

or because there is not enough seating most passengers
will end up sitting on the floor and will not feel that the
airport cares about their needs.

How to avoid it:

• Avoid closed gates whenever possible

• Make sure that the amount of seating is adapted to

the size of the aircraft
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MOST AIRPORTS HAVE A COUPLE OF

MONSTERS HIDING IN THEIR CONCOURSES

IF YOU WANT TO IMPROVE SATISFACTION LEVELS

YOU MUST LEARN TO SEE YOUR AIRPORT AS YOUR
PASSENGERS DO SO YOU CAN IDENTIFY AND GET
RID OF THE MONSTERS THAT ARE LURKING IN IT
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WANT TO KNOW WHAT MONSTERS ARE

HIDING IN YOUR AIRPORT?

DKMA SERVICE QUALITY ASSESSMENTS ARE SHORT

VISITS TO YOUR AIRPORT DURING WHICH WE HELP
YOU IDENTIFY KEY SERVICE ISSUES AND SHOW YOU
WAYS TO FIX THEM QUICKLY AND CHEAPLY
 GET A FREE TASTE

START GETTING RID OF YOUR PASSENGER

LET US SHOW YOU THE TYPE OF INSIGHT AN ASSESSMENT WILL GIVE YOU
EXPERIENCE MONSTERS TODAY
We are now offering quick assessments of your airport for free

James Ingram
Director

Tel: +41 22 354 07 51

E-mail: james.ingram@dkma.com