In-Flight Dining Experience of Guardians Accompanying Children

The central research question is: What factors influence the in-flight dining experience for guardians accompanying young children (ages 5-11) on domestic flights in Canada?

The research objectives of this study are consolidated as follows:

• Identify specific issues guardians travelling with children face regarding in-flight dining to guide the development of policies that improve in-flight dining experiences for families.
• We aim to understand the travellers’ preferences for dining service and expectations for the meals served by the airlines and if this can reduce stress and decision load for guardians during travel.
• Explore how airlines can enhance the dining experience through regulation, policy, and staff training to provide a seamless travel experience for guardians and children.

By exploring three key objectives we aimed to detect the possible causes for chaos within the scenario. At this moment, we envisioned our intervention by recommending a solution to enhance positive travel moments for families and increase airline customer satisfaction.

The research activities will be carried out systematically and ethically, with the necessary approvals and consent processes. This research will use a mixed-methods approach, divided into quantitative and qualitative phases. The mixed-methods approach will provide a comprehensive understanding of the pain points, enabling the development of informed and human-centred design solutions to enhance the catering system’s accessibility, sustainability, and overall dining experience for families with children on domestic flights.