Flight Connections

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Connecting Flights, Transit, Transfer, Transfer Desk, Transfer Point, Connections Desk, Connecting Passengers

Category

Transportation, Transport Facilities, Travel, Tourism

Message / Function

To indicate route and locations for persons making connections between flights

	Source	Description
	ICAO	Side view of human figure with case walking between aircraft in plan view
	ISO 7001	Side view of human figure with case walking between aircraft in plan view
	EJP	Side view of human figure with case walking between aircraft in plan view
	LHR	Side view of human figure with case walking between arriving and departing aircraft
	CNIS	Side view of human figure with case between two aircrafts connected by arrow
	PANYNJ	Two aircrafts, bent arrow indicating route of human figure walking
	CDG	Side view of human figure walking between two aircrafts connected by dotted line
	Schiphol	Two aircrafts connected by two bent arrows in circular arrangement, horizontal bar at bottom
	ATH	Arriving and departing aircrafts connected by two bent arrows in circular arrangement
	LED	Two aircrafts, connected by two bent arrows in circular arrangement
	Eco-Mo Foundation	Two aircrafts in plan view connected by dotted lines as arcs
	AJATA	Two aircrafts in plan view connected by dotted line
	DXB (Emirates)	Two aircrafts in plan view connected by dotted line
	O'72	Two aircrafts in plan view connected by dashed line
	SID	Two aircrafts, arrow pointing from upper aircraft to the one below

Discussion

Basically all variants show renderings of two aircrafts, often in plan view, but also in side view, most connected either by arrows or dotted lines resp. circles. Several pictograms also display a walking human figure between the two aircrafts, mostly with a case in one hand, to indicate the process of transit. The range of concepts found in our collection indicates that there is no specific visual stereotype concerning the messages Flight Connections, Transfer, Transit.

In our research we discovered that test results available for this referent are rather sparse:

While the pictogram from the Chinese standard GB/T 10001.1-2012, Public Information Graphical Symbols, labeled CNIS in the table above, was understood well with about 86 % correct responses in a Comprehension Test among Chinese respondents (An & Chan, 2017), the pictogram variant labeled as Eco-Mo Foundation seems to be not well comprehensible with a comprehension score of 21.9 in a Japanese study to propose domestically unified graphical symbols based on scientific methods (Eco-Mo Foundation, 2001).

Recommendation

Vienna International Airport Pictogram: Connecting Flights by Simlinger Informations-Design

We recommend to conduct a study including a Comprehension Test comparing all the concepts above to determine the image content working best. Until then we suggest using a simple and informative design like the Connecting Flights pictogram by Simlinger Informations-Design for Vienna International Airport.

Tests of pictograms of referent Flight Connections, Transfer

An, D. & Chan, E.H.W. (2017): Investigating the Comprehension of Public Symbols for Wayfinding in Transit Hubs in China. In: Rau, PL. (eds) Cross-Cultural Design. CCD 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10281. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57931-3_24

Eco-Mo Foundation (2001): Test data of public information symbols in Japan - Procedure for the testing of public information symbols by the Study Committee. ISO: ISO/TC 145/SC 1 N 329.