The goal was to create a competitive advantage for a startup airline, by identifying the existing problems faced by users in the booking journey for short haul European flights – and creating a more positive experience.
The UX design process
The process started with research to fully understand the scenario, followed by analysis to clearly define the problem in order to form a hypothesis for a solution, which could then be designed, prototyped, and tested.
Research methodologies included:
By solving these pain points, it would create a better experience for users - and help gain a competitive advantage in the market.
Prioritising high frequency use cases for seat selection
Common industry convention required users to select their seat, at a cost, or proceed with a freely assigned seat.
However, research showed however that 70.6% of respondents would not pay for their seat preference, but due to of a lack of prioritisation, and in attempt to make more sales, extra steps were included that frustrated the majority of users.
The solution would reverse this pattern and highlight an automatically assigned free seat. An option to change the seat at a cost would add extra steps to the journey for edge case users.
This new booking flow would respect the users time and decisions - and cut 30% of the steps by prioritising the needs of these high frequency use cases.
A booking journey thats tailored and respectful to its users
No extra services would be offered for before and after departure as research showed users would prefer to book these services elsewhere. Flight customisations would instead be optimised and prioritised:
Cost and progress transparency
With pricing being a key issue, a flight itinerary module would remain fixed throughout the booking journey to counter existing frustrations and to give users more control by: