As travel hassles mount and costs continue to rise along with passenger frustration, a new survey from Ada, the trusted AI-native customer experience company and creator of the Agentic Customer Experience (ACX) Operating Model, reveals a pivotal shift in consumer attitudes: 50% of U.S. travelers say they don’t care whether their problem is resolved by AI or a human agent — as long as it gets resolved. The findings signal that when disruptions arise, passengers value speed and resolution more than how customer service is delivered.
Disruptions Driving a Customer Service Crisis Ahead of Busy Summer Travel Season
Nearly half of respondents (47%) say travel has become more stressful and unpredictable, and 32% report having less confidence in airlines to manage disruptions effectively. That eroding confidence is showing up in customer service demand. One in four travelers (27%) now expects to spend more time waiting for help when something goes wrong, a vicious cycle in which disruptions create more contact volume precisely when airlines are least equipped to handle it.
When asked to name their top customer service frustrations, travelers were clear: long wait times topped the list at 46%, followed by customer service interactions that don’t actually resolve the issue (34%), receiving incorrect or incomplete information (28%), and a lack of clear and timely communication from airlines (28%).
Travelers Want a Hybrid Model: AI Speed With a Human “Safety Net”
Travelers are increasingly open to AI agents, but expectations remain high. While 24% of travelers indicate that 24/7 AI service would increase their loyalty to an airline, 28% report that a single bad AI interaction would reduce their confidence in the brand. Notably, a lack of human support remains a key risk to building trust, with more than half (53%) expecting it to be available at all times, even when AI is part of the experience. When disruptions strike, 43% prefer a mix of options: AI for efficiency, with the option to escalate to a human if needed.
Other significant findings from the Ada survey include:
- Travel consumers are ready and eager for AI. AI adoption in travel customer service remains early stage but is growing. Among the 69% of survey respondents who traveled in the past six months, approximately 40% used AI for at least one travel task, including booking (15%) and managing disruptions (13%). Among those who encountered frustrations with AI, the top complaint was menu options being too limited (14%) — not a failure to understand the request (10%) or distrust of the technology.
- Travelers want AI to bring clarity to the occasional chaos. When asked how AI should help address travel frustrations, top responses were delivering real-time updates when disruptions happen (38%) and providing proactive guidance about potential delays or cancellations (32%). Speed and accuracy of information, delivered at scale, is where travelers most trust AI to deliver.
- Need fast answers? AI can help with that. Travelers favor AI over human support for completing quick tasks like checking real-time flight status (41%), answering pre-flight questions about document requirements or baggage allowances (30%), and in-flight adjustments like seat selection or upgrades (28%).
- AI is both high-risk and high-reward for traveler loyalty. Overall, 39% say AI interactions carry more weight than human ones, both positively and negatively. Specifically, 24% say a positive AI experience would improve their perception more than a positive human interaction, while 15% say a negative AI experience would hurt their loyalty more than a bad human interaction. For airlines, this means AI is not a neutral customer service channel. It’s an amplifier.
“Travelers have stopped asking ‘is this AI or a human?’ and started asking ‘can you actually fix my problem?’” said Mike Murchison, CEO and co-founder of Ada. “That’s a fundamental shift, and it’s one the travel industry can’t afford to ignore. Some of the biggest customer headaches – long wait times, lack of timely information, proactive alerts when disruptions happen – are things that AI is directly positioned to fix. Consumers are giving AI the green light. The question now is whether airlines are ready to execute. The ones that succeed won’t just improve the customer experience, they’ll create a level of customer loyalty that’s hard to shake.”
Survey Methodology
The survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers aged 18 and older was commissioned by Ada and conducted by Dynata in April 2026. The study examined consumer behavior and expectations around AI in airline customer service, including trust in AI, preferences for human support, and confidence in resolution.
About Ada
With more than 550 AI Agents deployed globally, Ada is the trusted leader in agentic customer experience (ACX), transforming how enterprises engage with customers. Activated by our ACX Operating Model—a combination of technology, methodology, and expertise—enterprises can easily create and manage high-performing AI agents that deliver personalized interactions across channels.
Since 2016, Ada has powered more than 6.4 billion interactions for global brands like Ancestry, Cebu Pacific, IPSY, monday.com, Pinterest, Square, and Sky, delivering extraordinary experiences at scale.
With enterprise-grade security and compliance (SOC 2, GDPR, PCI, HIPAA, AIUC-1), Ada helps organizations reduce cost-to-serve, elevate CSAT, and increase lifetime customer value. Learn more at ada.cx.
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