Enhancing the Passenger Experience at Vancouver International Airport

Services

Qualitative Research, Persona Development, Workshop Facilitation, Insight Repository

Outcomes

Research Insights, Passenger Personas, Journey Maps, Knowledge Repository

Date

2019

Core Team

Background
Vancouver International Airport’s innovation team needed to improve the connecting passenger experience—a group whose needs were not fully understood but were crucial for growth. The challenge was to uncover the motivations, behaviors, and needs of connecting passengers to help their team create more user-centered solutions.
We conducted qualitative research, synthesized findings into personas and a knowledge base, and then brought these insights to life in a hands-on design workshop.

How might we better understand the motivations, activities, and desires of the connecting passenger?

Project goals

Vancouver International Airport needed to define and document their process for bringing innovative products and services to life in an Innovation Playbook. The first step in this process was to conduct research and capture findings and insights in a knowledge base. This would serve as a living, breathing research repository for key information about the business, technology, and people. The knowledge base was designed to help the YVR Innovation Program achieve the following objectives critical to the Innovation Playbook:
  • Identify opportunity areas for innovation
  • Ideate innovative concepts
  • Prioritize innovation projects and activities
  • Capture outputs and learnings from innovation projects

Approach & Methodology

Immersive Research & Stakeholder Engagement

Our collaboration with Vancouver International Airport began with a deep dive into existing research and ongoing studies. We conducted over 20 stakeholder interviews with people across the organization to gain a multifaceted understanding of the passenger experience from those who shape it daily.
Insights from these interviews informed our decision to focus on the connecting passenger experience for further study, because they are both the least understood by stakeholders and presented the most opportunities for meaningful innovation. With this focus defined, we designed a research strategy aimed at uncovering insights that would lay the foundation for personas and the broader Innovation Playbook.

Planning the Research

We began by creating a detailed research plan that would allow us to gather insights both broadly and deeply. Our initial two-day plan at Vancouver International Airport included setting up structured interviews and observations to capture the experiences of a diverse range of travelers.
Our goal was to understand the passenger journey, focusing specifically on connecting passengers—a group that had been underserved in previous research but was essential to YVR’s future growth.

Conducting Field Research and Observations

We conducted field research over two days at Vancouver International Airport. We engaged in 40 passenger interviews and observational studies, specifically including travelers with diverse needs: people with reduced mobility, families, non-native English speakers, high-value travelers, and business and leisure passengers. This approach allowed us to identify common patterns, pain points, and nuances in the connecting passenger experience, establishing a solid foundation for deeper analysis.

Iterative In-Depth Interviews for Deeper Insights

Following the initial field research, we refined our hypotheses based on the observed patterns. We then conducted an additional 20 one-on-one, in-depth interviews over the course of two weeks. This iterative phase allowed us to validate emerging themes and explore new insights, resulting in a comprehensive understanding of the connecting passenger experience. These deeper interviews became instrumental in shaping the personas and insights that would drive YVR's innovation strategy.
In-field research at Vancouver International Airport
Clustering passengers into groups naturally bubbled up to 6 persona types.

Synthesis of Findings

Our synthesis approach focused on distilling the attitudes and behaviors observed in passengers into distinct groupings, transforming raw data into actionable insights that became the backbone of our persona development. Instead of traditional demographic markers, we emphasized shared experiences and concerns, crafting personas that genuinely reflect the diversity of airport users.
This approach allowed us to avoid superficial stereotypes and create personas that resonate on a deeper level. For example, we found that concerns and behaviors often aligned between seemingly different groups, like travelers with reduced mobility and families with young children, revealing commonalities in anxiety and travel strategies. By analyzing and comparing each persona, we highlighted shared attitudes and behaviors, making our personas versatile and applicable across a range of scenarios.
This synthesis method ensured that our solutions are truly user-centered, addressing the needs and enhancing the experience of all types of travelers navigating the airport.
Conducting synthesis and facilitating a workshop with the wider team.
We carefully analyzed each persona, identifying key similarities and differences, and explored how one persona might evolve into another based on factors like travel companions, life stage, or increased travel experience.

Insights and Personas for Vancouver International Airport

Our research revealed 6 unique personas, each representing the complexities of travel behaviors and needs among YVR’s passengers. By comparing and refining these personas, we provided YVR with actionable insights to address specific challenges and opportunities in enhancing the airport experience. Each persona offers a lens through which YVR can create smoother, more enjoyable, and personalized journeys for every type of traveler.

Romantics

Create a memorable experience.
"I see the journey as part of my destination."
The Romantic sees every aspect of traveling as a part of the journey. They seek out expriences at the airport that give them a sense of place. They view a visit through the airport as a reflection of the region they're flying through, opting for local cuisine and picking up souvenirs to commemorate their time.

Overcomers

Survive the agony of travel.
"I control what I can at the airport to keep crises at bay."
For the Overcomer, air travel is taxing. Planning a trip requires a significant amount of logistical planning, even for the smallest task. Every step of the travelling process drains their physical, mental, and emotional energy. Activities at the airport are outcome-oriented, likely chosen to make the second leg of their trip and travel fatigue more manageable in some way.

Utilitarians

Make the trip productive.
"I see the journey as part of my destination."
The Utilitarian is a swift connector who values speed and ease over everything else. They have high expectations for airport efficiency and are easily annoyed when processes aren't smooth. Layovers are a hurdle in their travel plans and are avoided if possible– sometimes even at significant ticket cost. All airports are a blur and offer little sentimental value to the Utilitarian. They use productivity as a tool to begrudgingly kill time.

Intuitives

Allow for spontaneity.
"I'll see how I feel and figure it out once I'm at the airport."
The Intuitive is a traveller who doesn't passionately dislike nor enjoy travelling– it is what it is. At the airport, they go through processes without question or complaint, looking to personnel or fellow passengers for instruction. They gravitate towards unplanned activities in the immediate vicinity of where they are, and make impulsive decisions based on their mood.

Doubters

Feel reassured that everything is okay.
"Airports are full of uncertainties so I have to stay alert."
The Doubter is a skeptic who experiences every new screening, technology, and process for the first time, every time. They feel confined to their gate and it's immediate vicinity, either due to lack of experience travelling, low confidence, or little trust in the system. As a result, the Doubter does not feel empowered to move around the terminal unless absolutely necessary.

Ritualists

Find space to conserve energy.
"The airport is where I relax and recharge."
For the Ritualist, every aspect of their travel behavior is driven by their desire to conserve energy. They know exactly how to spend their time, and seek the perfect place to enjoy activities that mitigate the fatigue of flying. The Ritualist leans into air travel as an opportunity to be unplugged and away from their typical, daily routine and responsibilities.
Persona poster created as a final deliverable. Illustration credit Natalie Zawadzki.

Comparing and Transforming Personas

We deconstructed each persona to reveal nuanced attitudes and behaviors toward the airport experience, assessing similarities and differences across key attributes. This analysis highlighted the distinct perspectives each persona brings to their journey while also uncovering gaps and overlaps between them. These insights provided YVR’s innovation team with a clear roadmap of opportunities for innovation and areas to address for a more seamless travel experience.

Motivation vs. Activity

How do personas compare in their reason and intention behind activity or behavior and the engagement in pursuits that require mobility?

Anxiety vs. Confidence

How do personas compare in their trust in self and nervousness and unease of an outcome and their trust in self?
For each persona, we also identified the most similar and least similar persona, and what might cause one persona to transform into another.  

Similar Persona

Who does this persona type have the most in common with and in what ways?
For example, The Ritualist is most like the Romantic. Similarities include an optimistic, idealistic attitude toward the airport. Differences are familiarity and routine, which the Romantic does not have.

Opposite Persona

Who does this persona type have the least in common with and in what ways?
For example, The Ritualist is least like the Utilitarians. They have low anxiety when traveling and aren't as annoyed by sudden changes to their flight schedule.

Transformation Pattern

What external or internal factors could transform this persona into another one?
For example, with more serendipitous moments, the Ritualist becomes an Intuitive. Enough serendipity can spark a Ritualist to break from habit and act on impulse.

Mapping Out the Connecting Passenger Experience

Beyond developing personas, we visualized each persona’s emotional journey through the layover experience, examining how they interacted with airport staff, processes, and procedures. This analysis revealed key moments that define their experience, allowing us to identify targeted innovations to enhance both the emotional and procedural aspects of travel at Vancouver International Airport. The result was a roadmap to create a smoother, more enjoyable journey for all types of passengers.
Journey maps illustrating the persona's connecting experience.

Insight Repository for Vancouver International Airport

The Insight Repository was a key component of our innovation framework for YVR. This repository was designed to be accessible and easy to update, serving as a central hub for all research insights and personas. It enabled the innovation team to efficiently share and apply these insights across the organization, fostering collaboration and informed decision-making.
Illustrations by Natalie Zawadzki
Selected pages of the wiki documenting the research insights & personas.
Selected pages of the wiki documenting the research insights & personas.

Design Thinking Workshop with the Innovation Team & Executives

To introduce the newly developed personas and research repository to the innovation team and broader organization, we organized and led a full-day design thinking workshop in Vancouver. The workshop had two primary goals: to immerse participants in activities that familiarized them with the personas and repository, and to demonstrate how design thinking could drive innovation within the airport context. This session kickstarted the use of these personas to spark fresh ideas, leaving participants with a clear understanding of how to apply these tools in advancing airport innovation.
Selected pages of the wiki documenting the research insights & personas.

Impact and Outcomes

This work delivered both tangible tools and strategic frameworks to guide ongoing innovation. The Innovation Playbook and research repository equipped YVR with essential insights to shape their approach to improving the passenger experience. And it was more than just data—we delivered a set of humanized personas that helped the team connect more deeply with their passengers. By understanding the specific needs, behaviors, and pain points of different traveler types, YVR could innovate more intentionally, designing solutions that truly resonate with the people they serve.
Through the workshop, we brought these insights to life, helping the whole organization connect with the personas on a deeper, human level. This sparked new ideas and got everyone aligned around the real people behind the research. Now, every time I walk through an airport, I see familiar faces that remind me of those personas, which shows just how deeply we understood their needs. This project left a lasting impact not only for YVR, but as an example of how meaningful research can drive real, customer-focused change.
This case study reflects my contributions to research and design as part of a team at Teague. It does not represent the depth and scope of services provided as a fractional consultant.
The CEO and directors of Vancouver International Airport were in attendance at the workshop.

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Services

  • Plan and conduct user research to uncover needs and behaviors
  • Synthesize insights into an artifact, such as detailed personas or journey maps
  • Build a centralized insight repository for team-wide knowledge sharing