Book review: The Passenger Experience of Air Travel: A Critical Approach, J. Small (Ed.), Channel View Publications, Bristol (2022)

Wood, Roy (2024) Book review: The Passenger Experience of Air Travel: A Critical Approach, J. Small (Ed.), Channel View Publications, Bristol (2022). Tourism Management, 100 . p. 104824.

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Abstract

Roy C. Wood, University of Cumbria, UK, reviews the book 'The Passenger Experience of Air Travel: A Critical Approach', J. Small (Ed.), Channel View Publications, Bristol (2022), vii + 229pp. ISBN 9781845419028 (Hbk.); ISBN 9781845419011 (pbk.), ISBN 9781845419035 (eBook: pdf); ISBN 9781845419042 (eBk: ePub).

The Passenger Experience of Air Travel: A Critical Approach is ostensibly an edited collection, although the editor is author or co-author of eight of the nine contributions to the volume. The nine entries in the work include the editor's Introduction and Epilogue and contributions on the airport experience (Losekoot and Small); passenger-passenger interaction (Small); flying and appearance (Small); flying with mobility disabilities (Darcy, Small and Almond); flying with non-mobility disabilities (Small, McIntosh, Almond and Darcy); fear of flying (Small and Cockburn-Wootton); and confronting the negative psychological effects of air passenger travel (Higham and Young). The first thing to report is that this is an information rich book. Every contribution contains a plethora of well-sourced research and general and journalistic observations on its chosen topic. This was perhaps to be expected as the focus is on passenger experiences of air travel, but the editor and contributors are nevertheless to be congratulated on producing a document that will be an invaluable synthesis of extant scholarship for those seeking a literary starting point for their own research. Further, the range of topics covered is well-chosen and, if not exhaustive, then certainly wide-ranging. Worth singling out is the contribution of Darcey, Small and Almond on flying with mobility disability, which is both informative and moving, especially when taken with the increasing number of public reports detailing the appalling treatment of physically disabled persons by airports and airlines (e.g. The Guardian, 2022a; 2022b).

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Tourism Management
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1879-3193
Departments:	Institute of Business, Industry and Leadership > Applied Transformative Education and Leadership
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2023 11:04
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2024 16:00
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7358

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