A study by HappyOrNot, a customer and employee satisfaction reporting company, shows that airport passengers are least satisfied with their travel experience in the summer months.
In the 2017 Air Transportation Benchmark Study, passengers provided feedback via HappyOrNot Smiley Terminals in more than 100 airports worldwide. Around 120 million passengers provided 41 million feedbacks.
The study found that July and August ranked lowest in customer satisfaction. This likely is due, in part, to the increased number of passengers during the busy summer travel season. Airlines for America reports U.S. airlines anticipate carrying 234 million passengers from June 1 to August 31.
Additionally, the study found that Saturdays and Sundays are the days that fliers tend to be least satisfied, especially around red-eye flight times from midnight to 2 a.m.
Passengers also reported their views on high-traffic areas in the airport, such as airport access, check in, restrooms and baggage claim. For example, the study showed that passengers felt the best day to go through security was on Tuesday, while the worst day was Sunday, particularly from evening to night.
While weekends seem to be problematic for travelers and impact their experiences in a negative way, Wednesdays were shown to be a bright spot in the data. Wednesday was the best day of travel in terms of customer satisfaction.
