Program Description

A monthly survey of international air travelers to and from the U.S. The program is a public/private partnership between the government and airlines to collect information on the international travel market. The In-Flight Survey is Tourism Industries largest research program. The data from the In-Flight Survey provides much of the baseline data required for many of TI's other programs and reports such as the Abstract, Impact of International Visitor Spending on State Economies Program, International Travel Receipts And Payments Program, and it will be part of the information used for the Travel and Tourism Satellite Account (TTSA) Program for U.S.

The survey instrument used for this program has 29 questions. The questionnaire was designed by the U.S. government, the airlines and travel industry. It tries to provide a delicate balance between providing the information needed by the travel industry without being a major burden to the airline or its passengers. The questionnaire was designed in 1982, and modified in 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1996. The information collected includes the following:

Destination/Gateway Information: destinations visited including: Census Regions, states and major cities/attractions, countries, main destination visited port-of-entry, use of connecting flights including airport connections used, leisure/recreational activities, nights away from home/in U.S., number of states, destinations or countries visited, types of transportation used while on the trip, accommodations used, use of credit card, travelers checks, debit card use for payment of expenses.

Trip Planning Information: Purpose of trip (main and other purposes), type of airline ticket (First Class, Business Class, Coach, frequent flyer tickets/upgrade, discount/group fare, non-revenue), traveler seating area, advanced trip decision/airline reservation timing, method of booking trip/lodging, information sources used, prepaid package/inclusive tour usage, and number of days prior departure the package was purchased.

Ratings Information: Factors involved in choosing the airline for this trip, general impression of the airline (provided to airlines only), ratings of 18 elements of the airplane for this flight (provided to airlines only), recommendation rating for this airline for next trip (provided to airlines only), INS/Customs service ratings, ratings of 10 airport attributes, time required to clear Customs, baggage delivery time rating.

Demographic Information: residence and citizenship of traveler, U.S. zip codes, country of birth, gender, age, occupation, income, type and size of travel party, first international trip to/from U.S., number of foreign trips in past five years; & past twelve months, trip expenditures (total and itemized).

NOTE: Not all of these variables are available for all years.

Since 1983, airline participation has been between 26 and 62 international air carriers who voluntarily participate in this program. The number of flights surveyed each year has been between 897 and over 4200. The flight crews distribute the surveys to passengers in-flight or ground personnel distribute surveys at selected gate areas. The airline response rates have been between 50% to 73%. Airline response rates refer to the number of flights we requested to be surveyed compared to the number of flights returned with completed questionnaires. Surveys are available in twelve languages:

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Passengers surveyed include: U.S. residents flying to countries abroad (OUTBOUND), U.S. residents flying to Mexico (OUTBOUND to Mexico), International visitors flying home from the U.S. (INBOUND), Mexican visitors flying home from the U.S. (Mexican inbound to the U.S.), In 1993-1995, Canada was included. Between 1983 and 1997, the number of respondents surveyed has been between 33,000 and almost 95,000 passengers. In 1996, almost 80,000 surveys were processed. (approximately 43,000 were inbound non-residents and 37,000 were outbound U.S. residents).

If there is any additional information you would like to know about how TI's In-Flight Survey is collected, please send a message to TI's In-Flight Survey Administrator.

Survey results on Non-Residents (inbound) are expanded to represent all overseas and Mexican air travelers to the U.S. based upon INS I-94 data. Survey results on U.S. Residents (outbound) are expanded to represent all U.S. residents to overseas and Mexican air destinations based upon INS I-92 data.

Printed reports are available in quarterly and annual formats. Formats include separate inbound and outbound national reports for overseas travelers.

Mexican data are reported in a separate country report.

Twelve country reports are published for inbound data. Not all of these variables are available for all years.

State and city reports (including the top 12 states and top 12 cities) are available, along with customized reports or data.

For more information on TI's In-Flight Survey products see the publications section.