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Global flight restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemic created difficult situation on service performance in the airline industry. Before the global shutdown due to the spread of the pandemic, airlines faced severe conditions such as cancellations and rescheduling. During the pandemic, global operations has shut down more than two-third of operations worldwide1 During the situation, passengers provide text comments and complaints sent to online websites. These website reviews include tangible service experiences such as comfortable seats, food, magazines and intangible aspects of airline service such as empathy, response to requests, and attitudes. To help the industry survive in this service situation, this study seeks to identify necessary services that can help airlines maintain customer value and return satisfaction once operations are returned to normal. The airline industry is highly competitive and travelers can choose from a variety of airline products and services. The purpose is to identify the successful service strategy of the airline during the pandemic, and differentiate those successful outcomes from the unsuccessful ones. This study focuses on live comments from February to May 2020 as airlines are working to address passengers affected by the COVID-19 and operational dataset from US Department of Transport. To improve the quality of service, the industry requires urgent knowledge to determine the relationship between ground management, scheduling process, seat comfort, and internal management such as assets and route planning. Online reviews and comments can also be used for quantitative and qualitative purposes.
Resourceful comments from customer reviews are available from open sources, this data availability has opened the opportunity for researchers to critically analyze customer data and combine quantitative and qualitative analysis tools to investigate desirable characteristics of airline services that can improve direct passenger experience. Learning through comments in the online reviews gives airlines direct feedback on specific topics that help airlines evaluate their customers' experiences in the airline industry. The airline's experience includes services that are independently criticized from specific factors such as accommodation, meals, magazines, are highly valuable in airline study. Moreover, by using social media and online reviews, airline passengers can provide feedback through many aspects of their views towards the strategic decisions of the industry. Through online reviews, airline companies can learn what's missing and improve their service. On online rating websites, the ratings represent the perception of quality through the eyes of a traveler. The website provides detailed airline service scores on the website (check-in, transfers, arrivals, seating, cabin quality, equipment design, toilets, empathy, enthusiasm and attitude of the staff, kindness and hospitality, etc.). Each year, more than 100,000 rating of service reviews are published for each airline. Online reviews provide feedback to the airline industry to find links between service dimensions and missing services that can be learned and promoted on a low star. Service text reviews help airlines learn and improve to meet their customers' needs. This study combines both quantitative predictive operational performance and qualitative tools of service outcomes to evaluate desirable service characteristics of air service passengers that can improve passenger performance.