Comparisons of service quality perceptions between full service carriers and low cost carriers in airline travel

We apply latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling to a vast number of passenger-authored online reviews for airline services to compare service quality between full service carriers (FSCs) and low cost carriers (LCCs). Representing key features of airline service quality, topics are extracted from the reviews and matched to the five typical dimensions used by the SERVQUAL model. Based on the measure of word frequency statistically distributed to topics, we quantitatively determine the dimensions of service quality that are deemed as most essential by travelers. The results show that the most significant dimensions for FSCs and LCCs are tangibles and reliability, respectively. The least significant dimensions are assurance and empathy, respectively. By comparing extracted features in detail, we discover specific differences in traveler perceptions between FSCs and LCCs. Air carriers should be aware of these differences, as it would help them better differentiate themselves. Moreover, inflight meal services and seats, which have typically been regarded as tangible features, are subdivided into different topics, and the subdivisions are simultaneously matched to multiple dimensions (eg tangibles, empathy, and reliability). This suggests that research needs to reflect the diverse aspects of traveler perceptions for primary service items.