Airline choice model for international round-trip flights: The role of travelers’ satisfaction and personality traits

Air travelers' satisfaction with current airline options may have different effects on their decisions. We analyzed air passengers' demands for international round-trip flights using an Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) model. Most research on airline choice has only included observable factors. To fill this gap, this study hypothesized that the airline choice process depends not only on a set of measurable factors but also on passenger satisfaction which, in turn, is influenced by travelers' personality traits. Structural equation modeling was used to construct the passengers' satisfaction to relate passengers' personality traits, airline characteristics, and passenger flight experiences with travelers' perceptions of air carrier services. The satisfaction was incorporated into the discrete choice (DC) model, which was used to evaluate travelers' airline choices for an international round-trip flight. Results indicated that passenger satisfaction with each airline service was associated with airlines’ utilities. Therefore, by incorporating traveler satisfaction into a DC model, air passenger choice behavior can be modeled more precisely. The average probability of correct predictions in the validation sample reflected the superior fit of the ICLV model. These findings highlighted the complex ways in which perceptions can influence airline choice and provided insight for targeted policy interventions.