The effects of self-service on senior passenger’s customer satisfaction in Helsinki Airport

This research was done in Helsinki Airport and the target research population was senior passengers. The aim of this research was to find out how does self-service effect on senior passengers’ customer satisfaction and how the experience could be improved to motivate this customer group to use them more. This topic was chosen, because the authors would like to work in product and customer experience development positions in the future, and they wanted to understand customers’ needs and opinions towards self- service better. In order to find the answer to the research questions, a survey was performed in a quantitative method at the airport and target passengers were surveyed in time period of three days. The passengers were able to answer satisfactory questions and give improvement ideas on the machines. The results were surprisingly good. Majority of the seniors surveyed were fairly happy with the self-service machines however, they would still prefer personal service instead. The generation is used to getting personal service from a human being and appreciates that more than a machine. Some, however, would prefer self-service and found the positive factors about them, such how it fastens the process and reduces time used in queuing. To improve the self-service experience, airlines should make them simpler and more logical. The scanners should be higher quality, so they would scan the passports and ID’s quicker and easier. There should also be more guides available to help the passengers, not only during rush hours. This paper found answers to the research questions and the authors were happy to learn about senior passengers and how important it is to understand and hear customers opinions