Airport Passenger Satisfaction Survey: Questions & How ASQ Works
An airport passenger satisfaction survey asks travellers to rate each stage of their journey — access, check-in, passport control, security, wayfinding, facilities, the terminal environment and arrival — so the airport can see where the experience breaks down. Most airports combine two sources: an industry benchmark such as ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme, and their own continuous touchpoint feedback that shows which zone and hour to fix.
Treat the benchmark survey as the scoreboard and your own survey as the instrument panel. Ask one short question at each touchpoint, tag every answer with terminal, zone and hour slot, and map your questions to the same eight categories ASQ uses, so both data sets speak the same language.
How ASQ works
Airport Service Quality (ASQ) is the passenger-experience benchmarking programme run by ACI, Airports Council International. According to ACI, more than 400 airports in over 110 countries take part. The programme surveys departing passengers in quarterly waves, and the departure survey scores 34 service attributes grouped into eight categories: airport access, check-in, passport and personal ID control, security, finding your way, airport facilities, airport environment and arrival services. Participating airports are benchmarked against each other, and the results feed the annual ASQ awards.
Because the method and questionnaire are standardised across participants, ASQ is built for comparison: it tells an airport how its passengers rate it relative to other airports, category by category. The official questionnaire is ACI’s and is not reproduced here — the questions later in this guide are our own examples, written to follow the same eight categories.
ASQ (Airport Service Quality) is a programme of ACI, Airports Council International. Qmeter is an independent platform — not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by ACI — that supports an airport’s own continuous measurement alongside the official ASQ surveys.
Why airports run their own survey as well
A benchmark answers “how do we compare?” It is less suited to “what should the duty manager fix this afternoon?” Quarterly waves report after the quarter has ended, samples are designed for comparability rather than for a single washroom block or security lane, and results are aggregated by category. An airport’s own passenger satisfaction survey fills that gap: continuous, one question per touchpoint, tagged by terminal, zone and hour slot, and connected to the teams who can act.
The two work best together. When your own questions map to the same eight categories, a weak area in the benchmark can be traced to a specific zone and time slot in your own data, and a fix can be checked in the following weeks rather than the following quarter. The collection methods behind this are covered in how airports measure passenger satisfaction.
Survey questions for each stage of the passenger journey
Use these as a question bank, not a questionnaire. On a terminal or QR code, ask one question per touchpoint; in a post-trip email, pick five or six across the journey. Rating questions work on a five-face or 1–5 scale, the recommendation question on 0–10. The first eight groups follow the ASQ categories, so your data lines up with the benchmark.
Airport access
- How easy was it to get to the airport today?
- How would you rate parking — availability, signage and value for money?
- How easy was it to find the drop-off and pick-up areas?
Check-in
- How would you rate the waiting time at check-in?
- How helpful were the check-in staff?
- How easy was the self-service check-in or bag drop to use?
Passport & ID control
- How would you rate the waiting time at passport control?
- How courteous and helpful were the staff at passport control?
- How clear were the instructions before you reached the desk or e-gate?
Security
- How would you rate the waiting time at security?
- How courteous and helpful were the security staff?
- How clear were the instructions for preparing your bags?
Finding your way
- How easy was it to find your way through the terminal?
- How clear were the flight information screens?
- How easy was it to find your gate?
Airport facilities
- How clean was the washroom you just used?
- How satisfied were you with the choice of food and drink?
- How would you rate the shops — choice and value for money?
- How easy was it to find a seat, a charging point and working Wi-Fi?
Airport environment
- How clean was the terminal overall?
- How comfortable was the waiting area at your gate?
- How safe and secure did you feel in the terminal?
Arrival services
- How would you rate the waiting time for your baggage?
- How easy was it to find a taxi, bus or train after landing?
- How would you rate the arrival passport and customs process?
Overall and open questions
- Overall, how satisfied are you with your experience at this airport today?
- How likely are you to recommend this airport to a friend or colleague?
- What is one thing we should improve?
Where and when to ask
- Smiley terminals at the end of each touchpoint — in the recompose area after security, past passport control, at washroom exits and at gates: one question, one tap. See feedback kiosk software for how terminals are set up and monitored.
- QR codes at gates, lounges and baggage reclaim — for passengers with a few minutes and more to say.
- Post-trip SMS or email — the journey-level view and the recommendation question, where consented contact details exist.
- Zone and hour slot on every answer — departure banks, not daily averages, decide staffing; see airport queue time measurement.
A simple survey template by channel
| Channel | Questions | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Washroom exit terminal | Washroom cleanliness on five faces; after a low tap, a reason (cleanliness, supplies, smell, queue) | One tap, optional second |
| Security recompose terminal | Waiting time at security; staff courtesy on rotation | One tap |
| QR code at the gate | Overall satisfaction; comfort of the gate area; one thing to improve | Under a minute |
| Post-trip email or SMS | Overall satisfaction; recommendation (0–10); one question each for check-in, security, wayfinding, facilities and arrival; comment | Two to three minutes |
Offer every survey in the languages your passengers speak, keep the core questions identical across terminals, and report the smiley questions as a satisfaction score per zone — the approach described on the CSAT software page.
From answers to action
A passenger survey pays off when a low score moves someone. Threshold alerts flag a cluster of poor washroom or security ratings while the problem is still happening; tickets with SLA timers send cleaning or duty staff and record what was done; and weekly zone-versus-zone comparison shows whether the fix held. The washroom case is covered in detail in airport washroom feedback.
How Qmeter supports airport passenger surveys
Qmeter runs airport passenger feedback on wall-mounted smiley terminals, QR codes at gates and post-trip SMS, email and web surveys, all from one template library in 100+ languages. Every answer carries terminal, zone and hour slot; dashboards compare zones live; low scores open dispatched tickets with SLA timers; and touchpoints can be mapped to the eight ASQ categories so continuous data sits next to the official results. Deployment options, including on-premise, are on the airport passenger feedback solution page, and device licences are listed on the public pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
What is ASQ in airports?
ASQ (Airport Service Quality) is ACI’s passenger-experience benchmarking programme. According to ACI, more than 400 airports in over 110 countries take part; departing passengers are surveyed in quarterly waves on 34 service attributes across eight categories, and the results feed the annual ASQ awards. Qmeter is not affiliated with ACI.
What questions are asked in an airport passenger satisfaction survey?
Questions cover each stage of the journey: getting to the airport, check-in, passport control, security, wayfinding, facilities such as washrooms, food and shops, the terminal environment and arrival services, plus an overall satisfaction and a recommendation question. Continuous surveys ask one question per touchpoint; post-trip surveys pick a handful across the journey.
Can an airport run its own passenger survey alongside ASQ?
Yes. The benchmark shows how the airport compares with others; an internal survey on terminals, QR codes and post-trip messages shows which zone and hour slot to fix, every day between waves. Mapping internal questions to the same eight categories keeps the two data sets comparable.
How often should an airport measure passenger satisfaction?
Continuously at touchpoints, reviewed daily by operations and weekly by management, with the benchmark survey on its own quarterly rhythm. Hour-slot data matters most, because problems tend to cluster in specific departure banks rather than across the whole day.
Which touchpoints should an airport measure first?
Start where a fix is quick and visible: washrooms, security and check-in queues. They produce frequent, specific feedback that cleaning and duty teams can act on the same day, and they build the habit of responding before the programme expands to the full journey.
What software do airports use for passenger satisfaction surveys?
Usually a combination: the benchmark programme for comparison with other airports, plus feedback software for continuous measurement — terminals, QR codes, SMS and email on one platform, real-time dashboards by zone and hour, and ticketing to dispatch fixes. Qmeter covers the second part; see the airport passenger feedback solution.
See Qmeter in action
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