Understanding the meaning of low airfare and satisfaction among leisure air travellers using Malaysian low-cost airlines

Abstract

This study is aimed at understanding the meaning of low airfare and satisfaction from the existing Malaysian low-cost airline travellers. It examines the extent to which low airfare and satisfaction influenced the positive purchase behaviour of travellers. Participant observation and in-depth interviewing were used as data collection methods at the low-cost airline terminals in Malaysia. The findings revealed that low airfare means ‘cheap price paid’, ‘low level of service and performance’ and ‘mode of transportation’ during non-price promotional periods and ‘value for money’ during promotional periods. Customer satisfaction means meeting low expectations toward service performance and positive mood and social connectedness attributed to satisfaction, and dissatisfaction is found to be non-durable. Crowd, seating space and cramped aircraft cabins negatively affect satisfaction. The finding implicates pricing and marketing strategies for low-cost airlines and adds to the existing literature on price promotion and satisfaction of low-cost airline travellers.

Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty and Organizational Complaint Handling: Economic Aspects of Business Operation of Airline Industry

“…We have used adapted and modified theoretical & conceptual research model as exhibited in Figure 1; however, most of the factors and items were taken from the previous literature (Metwally, 2013;Chan, 2014;So et al, 2014).…”

“…The results of the previous literature exhibited that organizations that experienced higher customer loyalty were more likely to respond positively to customer complaints (Law, 2017;Estelami, 2000;Fullerton, 2003). The majority of the researchers such as Prentice et al (2017), Davidow (2003), Karande and Magnini (2010), Chan (2014), andSo et al (2014) pointed out interrelated connection among the complaints, response time, quality of response, customer loyalty, company image, and economic aspects. However, more questions still remain to be answered aiming to conjoin resolution perfection, complaint handling, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and other factors that form a precondition of improving the performance, and economic growth of airline companies.…”

Southeast Asian low-cost carrier airline competitiveness: A solution for economic growth

“…The cultural dimension has been shown time again to have an effect on passenger expectations in Asian aviation (Gilbert & Wong, 2003). Finally, results from the research did not support H5 (p >0.05), and the relationship between service quality and LCC competitiveness, which is supported by research from Chan (2014) which indicated that LCC passengers are willing to revise their service expectations downward because of the price (Chan, 2014;Kuosuwan, 2015). Thus, the important thing for LCCs is that they determine the expectations of their passengers and meet them (Buaphiban & Truong, 2016).…”

What Determines the Loyalty of Airline Passengers? Findings of a Quantitative Data-Mining Study

“…Otherwise, only a few studies adopted a qualitative method (e.g., interview) to examine the air passengers' evaluations of airline service (Chan, 2014;Westwood et al, 2000). Recently, several researchers have collected and analyzed user generated content (e.g., Tweets) to get an understanding of the airline service factors that make passengers satisfi ed or unsatisfi ed (Liau & Tan, 2014;Misopoulos et al, 2014).…”