Cracking CSAT Score Improvements with 22North
Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) are fundamental to the airline and airport industry because they measure how well the travel experience meets passenger expectations and strongly influence business outcomes. In a highly competitive aviation market, satisfaction drives loyalty, revenue, reputation, and operational insights.
For airlines, CSAT directly affects brand loyalty and repeat business. Passengers who report high satisfaction across service touchpoints — including booking, check-in, baggage handling, in-flight service, and issue resolution — are statistically more likely to choose the same airline again and recommend it to others, increasing lifetime customer value. Data shows that a majority of travelers prioritize service quality and may even be willing to pay more for a better experience, underlining why carriers continue to invest in improving CSAT metrics across digital, ground, and in-flight touchpoints.
CSAT also functions as a predictive performance indicator: strong scores often correlate with financial resilience and stock performance, demonstrating that passenger satisfaction isn’t just a “nice-to-have” but a strategic asset to long-term profitability. Airlines use CSAT and related measures like NPS to pinpoint operational bottlenecks or service weaknesses, guiding investments in staffing, training, technology, and customer support that contribute to future satisfaction gains.
At airports, satisfaction surveys such as the ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program provide benchmarks for service quality and guest experience. Airports with high satisfaction scores often see better commercial performance — from retail revenue to passenger throughput — because satisfied passengers spend more and perceive the airport brand more positively.
Industry voices reflect this priority: Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing and director emeritus at the American Customer Satisfaction Index, noted that “airline customer satisfaction has climbed to new heights … showing that innovations and service improvements … have resonated with customers.”
In essence, CSAT provides a quantifiable link between passenger experience and business health — helping airlines and airports improve operations, strengthen loyalty, differentiate their brands, and sustain growth in an increasingly demanding travel landscape.
22North by Phonon & Jazeera Airways
Jazeera Airways came on board with 22North in September 2025. Since then, we’ve seen a direct jump of 108% in response rates for CSAT surveys. Why this is so crucial is that to gain a perspective on what’s working for customers and what’s not, a healthy stream of feedback is very important.
These responses now form the backbone of investigation into issues which are repeated by most passengers. Why are passive responses increasing at a rate that good or bad responses are not? What can be done to improve meal quality or at least the perception of it? Can we replicate what we did to get flight timings adhere to schedule and improve the boarding and counter check-in experience?
These are the ways in which we can redefine customer experience and improve perception – all it takes is thoughtfully crafted surveys, a reliable and effective way to communicate the survey to passengers and an analysis of the data to understand the larger picture.
CSAT in Aviation
Airlines and airports have a number of systems up and running which may overlap with each other functionally but often, they do not communicate or share information between them. This results in these individual cogs in the system to operate in silos without cohesion. This major business and operational challenge is experienced by most airlines and it hampers holistic efficiency in day to day functioning.
Having robust CSAT frameworks enables an airline to serve passengers with proactive communication rather than the status quo which is need-based reactive responses. We need to be able to predict a need or possible service gap before it is articulated to truly stay ahead of the curve. On the other hand, once received, the survey results must be used to highlight and build for relevant use cases which will help reduce the non-positive feedback and move it to on-the-fence neutral ratings and better still, positive numbers.
Customer Satisfaction is typically defined by the three C’s: Customer-Centricity, Communication, and Consistency. We delivered all these with #JazLink – our solution for Jazeera Airways focused on baggage belt notifications.
Medium is the Message
With CSAT surveys, we must also remember that along with an easy and quick survey format, it is important to send it out over a medium that gets the passenger’s attention throughout the day. For us, that medium is WhatsApp – checked at least 15-20 times a day by the average smartphone user. WhatsApp has transformed how we interact with our loved ones, exchange crucial information and document and even run entire businesses.
Hence, at 22North, we ensure that CSAT scores get a fighting chance at improvement by ensuring CSAT flows via WhatsApp and other channels such as SMS, email, RCS, WeChat, etc. to eliminate time lag between reception of service and feedback and also to get the best and most honest responses as possible. Customer satisfaction insights are fleeting and precious and there’s nobody better than us at 22North to get these to you, one WhatsApp message at a time. Explore a very insightful resource from IATA – its Global Passenger Survey which wonderfully breaks down and leans into prevalent passenger trends across the globe: https://www.iata.org/en/publications/manuals/global-passenger-survey