An ethological experiment to improve airport security gate process reliability: Understanding time perception and personal awareness of older adult travelers

This research project aims to improve the management and reliability of airport security gate procedures by redesigning passenger queues based on human ethology methodologies. While queues have been studied from many angles, a scientific contribution based on a human ethology approach proposing regulation of queue dynamics to improve security effectiveness seems to be novel. Queueing behaviors, observed in previous fieldwork, led to the hypothesis that queue structuring can have a positive impact on wait time perception. This hypothesis was operationalized, according to ethology experiment design, through a passenger queue simulation. The data collected (n=140) confirmed the hypothesis. Average perceived time was lower for passengers who put items to be X-rayed on the belt in a specified order, along with higher personal awareness compared to the usual case where no order is imposed. Although this research is exploratory, we have been able to provide airport security management with some practical insights.