Flight Centre Change Feature
New manage booking feature that allows users to self-change their flights.
TYPE
Booking Change Feature
TEAM
UX researcher
Business Analyst
Product Designer
Product Manager
Engineer
DATE
March - July 2024
TOOLS
Figma, Miro, UserTesting, FullStory
OVERVIEW
Flight Centre is a travel agency that extends throughout Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa. They want to be the world's most exciting and profitable travel retailer.
The aim of this project is to envision the future of managing a booking. I created an experience where users can change a flight booking by themselves without needing the assistance of an agent.
MY ROLE
I was the lead product designer, launching a 0-1 feature for desktop, mobile, and tablet. I collaborated with cross functional teams including engineers, product managers, UX researchers, UX designers, UX writers, development team.
Problem
The long wait times that customer's experience when calling into customer support to change or modify a flight can become a major frustration.
Without a self service change feature, users will feel frustrated by the user experience and look for better options in the future.
Project Preview
Changing a date
Reviewing your flight
Checkout process
Changing a date on desktop
Discovery + User Research
I scheduled 2-days of meetings with stakeholders like project managers, engineers, retail and online consultants, and the design team to explore existing information around the problem. My research encompassed:
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Competitive analysis
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Understanding how different platforms are linked into my design
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Roles and responsibilities of members form different design teams
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Regions we want to tackle
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Understanding the crucial information we need for different phases (phase 1, 2, 3)
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Existing research around the problem
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Day to Day tasks that need to be accomplished
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Timeline on the project
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How is the success of the tasks measured
*Click to enlarge
Qualitative Interviews
User research was quintessential. The complex workflows of the multiple user types (18-60+) and their interactions with one another needed to be laid out in detail. In order to achieve that, I gathered as much as I could from the end users to understand the challenges they face and how they see the app making a difference in optimizing pain areas.
"Honestly, I would rather call in to avoid the hassle. If there was something so easy and efficient, there is a possibility I would use it, but only if it's for one flight not multiple flights." - Airline User
"I remember I was in the process of changing my flight on the phone and the line got disconnected. When I called back, I had to restart my whole process. I don't understand why you don't have a change feature online already.." - Airline User
“I am so busy at work and can't wait on the phone just to have an agent come on 30 minutes later. I need something that will allow me to self change” - Airline User
Conceptualization
I started creating the information architecture and low-fi concepts for primary use cases. I collaborated with other design teams to see their end to end flows and how their work would funnel into my design. After having a go-ahead from the product manager, developers, and stakeholders on the mockups, we began to conduct usability tests with the low-fidelity mockups. Once we had confidence in the design, we began digitalizing designs.
*Click to enlarge
Design Variants + Challenges
I had to consider a number of technical constraints and new limitations that arose during the whole process. From engineering constraints to new industry standards that we were not previously aware of, there were a number of challenges that arose through iterations and feedback meetings.
*Click to enlarge and see the evolution of pages
Continuous User Testing
It's important for me to get feedback from the user whenever I can through the process. I conducted user tests with a range of age groups to gather additional feedback on my designs.
The Solution
Flight Centre makes it easy to manage a booking - clicking a simple button will allow users to change their flight. Efficiently change a flight without the need of an agent and learn about added costs to your new flight
Mitigating expectations by displaying policies impacting change
To ensure that users don't waste their time navigating the full process only to realize there are restrictions on their flight, 'Policies Impacting Change' is displayed upfront.
Changing one or multiple flights
Based on individual needs, users are able to change one or more flights at a time.
View the flights that suit best
Users are able to choose cabin class, view flight details, and select the fare that suits them best (In this first phase, they can only change date).
Review and pay for flight
Providing a summary of the flight with cost details helps the user make an informed decision.
Desktop Version
This project was a mobile first design but I created a responsive design on both desktop and tablet as well.
Seeing Results
After releasing onto production, we wanted to see the app update and website update and pulling data and using to make more informed design decisions. I contacted travel agent consultants, business analyst, and fullstory data to get all the metric information.
71%
Adoption Rate
78%
Task Completion Rate
45%
Decrease in Agent Calls
25%
Increase CSAT Score
Project Learnings
1. Simplicity is strength
As a designer, we are often lured by attractive, trendy and out of the box designs. But, we must always remember the ‘why’. The primary goal is to understand the user, their problems and then come up with a design that solves it. Keeping things simple is key in the travel industry with so much complexity
2. Prioritize
Create a strategic plan to launch an MVP. This helps deal with out-of-scope requests that could potentially derail the project and helps deliver a quality product in time.
3. Seek out feedback early and continually
The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. Keeping the stakeholders/users in loop and testing solutions in whatever form (paper, low-fi or hi-fi) as early as possible saves ample amount of time and re-work.
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