Skyjacking, airline security, and passenger reactions: Toward a complex model for prediction

To determine passenger reactions to skyjacking and related airline and governmental security measures, attitude questionnaires were administered to a random sample of 102 passengers at a large midwestern airport. Results indicate (a) 3 response dimensions failed to differentially relate passenger attitudes to 7 proposed security procedures; (b) a general construct, "overall concern for security," did not adequately account for passenger reactions to specific security measures; and (c) 8 orthogonal factors represented different attitude constructs for specific passenger subgroups. It is concluded that there is no typical airline passenger exhibiting an overall concern for security against skyjacking. Rather, a complex model of passenger attitudes and their behavioral correlates must be constructed in order to account adequately for passenger reactions to security programs.