The importance of understanding the antecedents of transit passenger complaints derives from their possible effect on ridership and potential contribution as a valuable data source for service improvements. This study explores the effect of the service climate, disruption frequency, and perceived value of complaints on complaint intentions. It also explores the correlation between complaints and temporary opt-out when controlling for personal and trip characteristics. The theoretical framework combines the affective event theory with the consumer complaint intention model. We validate the framework with a survey of 533 respondents in Brasília. The results show that: i) complaints derive from level-of-service perceptions, frequency of disruptive events, and the perceived emotional, moral, and functional value of complaining; ii) good customer care and the belief in the ability of the operators to prevent disruptive events increase the perceived value of complaints; iii) stronger complaint intentions lead to temporary opt-out intentions provided there are alternative modes. That results show that the service climate, disruptive event management, and handling customer care are essential factors in maintaining passenger operator-relations.

了解过境乘客投诉前因的重要性源于它们对乘客量的可能影响和作为服务改进的宝贵数据源的潜在贡献。本研究探讨了服务环境、中断频率和投诉的感知价值对投诉意向的影响。它还探讨了在控制个人和旅行特征时投诉与临时选择退出之间的相关性。理论框架将情感事件理论与消费者投诉意向模型相结合。我们通过对巴西利亚 533 名受访者的调查验证了该框架。结果表明： i) 投诉源于对服务水平的看法、破坏性事件的频率以及对投诉的情感、道德和功能价值的感知；ii) 良好的客户关怀和对运营商防止破坏性事件能力的信念会增加投诉的感知价值；iii) 如果有替代模式，更强烈的投诉意图会导致临时选择退出的意图。结果表明，服务氛围、破坏性事件管理和处理客户服务是维持乘客运营商关系的重要因素。