The footloose nature of transfer passengers in the turbulent air transport market landscape has necessitated the need to assess service marketing constructs relevant for airport competitiveness. The current cross-sectional study examined (1) the influence of transfer passengers’ perceived airport staff helpfulness and communication (H&C) on their behavioral loyalty, (2) the mediating roles of passenger affective image and satisfaction, and (3) the interaction effects of passenger types (trip purpose & travel frequency) and airport in the direct and indirect airport staff H&C – behavioral loyalty relation. Post-hoc analysis of transfer passengers’ perceived airport staff H&C across airports and passenger types was performed. Data was collected from three international airports in China (N = 829). Findings revealed that perceived airport staff H&C has significant positive associations with the three behavioral loyalty variables, and indicated further that these associations are partly explainable via passengers’ affective image and satisfaction. Also, the perceived airport staff H&C’s direct and indirect relations with behavioral loyalty variables are sensitive to passenger types but not airports. Expectedly, the post-hoc analysis showed that transfer passengers’ perceived airport staff H&C is significantly different across passenger types but not airports. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations and directions for future studies have been discussed.