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RateNow, EventWhat we learned at Passenger Terminal Expo London: airports want feedback that drives action
How airports are moving beyond periodic measurement to adopt real-time feedback systems that drive operational action.
At Passenger Terminal Expo in London, one message stood out: airports no longer just want to measure passenger satisfaction — they want to act on it in real time. The industry is prioritizing solutions that are simple to deploy, connected to live dashboards and automatic alerts, and capable of turning feedback into genuine operational intelligence.
Riccardo Begelle, 2026 
9 min 
Passenger Terminal Expo in London (PTE World 2026) once again confirmed why it remains one of the most important meeting points for the global airport industry. For the RateNow team, it was an excellent opportunity to meet airport operators, passenger experience leaders, operations teams and innovation professionals from many different markets — and to see, first-hand, where the industry is heading.
We came back with a very clear conclusion: airports are no longer looking only for ways to measure satisfaction. They are increasingly looking for solutions that help them act in real time, improve day-to-day operations, and create a more consistent passenger experience across the entire journey.
That shift matters.
For many years, passenger feedback has often been treated as something periodic: a report, a survey result, a satisfaction score reviewed after the fact. But airports are dynamic operational environments. Passenger experience is shaped every minute by waiting times, cleanliness, crowding, signage, staff interaction, boarding flow, baggage delivery and dozens of other factors. In that context, feedback becomes much more valuable when it is immediate, visible and connected to action.
That is exactly the direction we saw reinforced at PTE.
From measurement to operational action
One of the strongest themes across our conversations in London was the growing need for operational feedback systems, not just measurement tools.
Airports want to know what passengers are experiencing now, not only what they thought yesterday or last month. They want to spot a problem at a specific touchpoint, alert the right team quickly, and respond before dissatisfaction becomes systemic.
This is where real-time feedback becomes powerful.
At RateNow, we help airports capture feedback through a combination of smiley feedback buttons, smiley feedback tablet terminals, QR-based flows and other connected feedback points. These can be deployed across a broad range of airport touchpoints, including:
- security and screening areas
- boarding gates
- waiting areas and lounges
- baggage claim
- passport control and arrivals
- information points
- parking and mobility areas
- retail and food & beverage zones
- restrooms and hygiene-sensitive locations
But collection alone is not enough. What airport teams really value is what happens after the response is captured.
When feedback is centralized in live dashboards and linked to automatic alerts, it becomes an operational tool. It allows teams to identify underperforming areas quickly, detect service issues earlier, compare performance across terminals or locations, and move faster from signal to response.
In other words, it helps airports do what they already want to do: run better operations and improve the passenger journey in a practical, measurable way.
Simplicity and deployment matter more than ever
Another strong takeaway from PTE was that airports want solutions that are not only effective, but also easy to deploy and easy to scale.
This means:
- minimal infrastructure complexity
- flexible installation options
- battery-powered or autonomous devices where useful
- the possibility to start with a focused rollout and then expand
- multi-touchpoint coverage without creating a heavy operational burden
In large transport environments, simplicity is not a luxury. It is a condition for rollout.
A feedback program may look attractive in a presentation, but if it is difficult to install, hard to maintain, or too rigid to adapt to different operational areas, adoption becomes much slower. The airports we met were clearly prioritizing solutions that combine practicality, visibility and commercial efficiency.
That market reality fits very well with our approach.
Smarter feedback, not just more feedback
Another message we took from London is that airports do not need more data for the sake of it. They need smarter data.
The real value of passenger feedback lies in helping airport teams answer questions such as:
- Where are passengers becoming dissatisfied most often?
- Which touchpoints require operational attention?
- Which areas are improving and which are deteriorating?
- How can issues be escalated faster to the right team?
- How can satisfaction data support operational planning and service improvement?
When feedback is structured properly, it stops being a passive metric and becomes a source of operational intelligence.
This is why alerts were such a recurring point of interest in our conversations at PTE. For many airports, alerts are the bridge between “listening” and “responding”. They make feedback actionable.
An industry benchmark for excellence
PTE is also valuable because it brings together not only technology providers and airport teams, but also the broader conversation about what excellence in airport experience looks like.
This year, that was reflected clearly in the visibility around the Skytrax Awards, where Singapore Changi Airport was once again recognized as the World’s Best Airport.
Awards alone do not define an airport. But they do highlight something important: great passenger experience is never the result of a single initiative. It comes from the accumulation of many operational decisions, many service standards, and many moments where airports choose to pay attention to the passenger journey in detail.
That is why real-time feedback matters. It supports exactly that culture of attention, visibility and continuous improvement.
Our takeaway from London
For us, Passenger Terminal Expo was not only about showcasing what RateNow does. It was also about listening carefully to the market.
And the message we heard was clear: Airports want passenger feedback solutions that are:
- simple to deploy
- easy for passengers to use
- flexible across different touchpoints
- useful for operations
- connected to real-time alerts and dashboards
- commercially efficient at scale
We believe this is where RateNow is especially well positioned.
Our mission is not simply to help airports collect responses. It is to help them build a feedback system that supports better decisions, faster reactions, and a more consistent passenger experience across the airport environment.
Thank you, London
We want to thank everyone who visited the RateNow stand at Passenger Terminal Expo, shared ideas with us, and took the time to explore how passenger feedback can be used more effectively in airport operations.
We left London with strong conversations, new relationships, valuable market insight and even more conviction about where the industry is heading.
The future of passenger feedback in airports is not just about listening.
It is about listening fast, understanding clearly, and acting in time.
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