Untangling airline booking to reduce friction
Reconstructing flight booking user-flow.
For my Professional Diploma in UX Design at the UX Design Institute, I redesigned the flight-booking process for a fictional startup airline, Lumen Air. I simplified a notoriously frustrating flow into a clear, three-step experience: find your flight, add extras, and book.
Choosing flights and fares creates the most pain
To understand where users struggle, I conducted competitive benchmarking across five airlines (British Airways, Flyr, AerLingus, EuroWings, American Airlines), ran an online survey, and performed usability tests. The research data was synthesized collaboratively with a team of three UX design students through affinity diagramming, using natural grouping followed by a cross-referencing matrix of heuristics and flow stages.
Key insights from research
Three principles to guide the redesign
Removing fare selection entirely
The research showed that fare selection was the single biggest source of confusion and frustration. Users didn't understand the fare tiers, couldn't find what was included, and often didn't realize they needed to select a fare before proceeding.
I chose to simplfy he booking process to three clear phases: find your flights (one direction at a time), choose extras (bundles or individual add-ons like luggage, seat selection, fast track), and book (passenger and payment information registration).
By decoupling services from fares, users could focus on one decision at a time. Testing showed that users completed purchases faster without the fare selection step, and they didn't explicitly notice its absence.
Testing swipe navigation, then letting it go
Instead of traditional “Next” buttons, I explored swipe-up gestures for moving between steps. The idea was to leverage the scrolling behavior users already know from social media and create a sense of flow.
In the early prototype, each completed step revealed a “Swipe up to continue” prompt with an animated chevron. The screen would slide up to reveal the next phase of the booking.
User testing revealed the problem. Without strong enough signifiers, users didn't recognize the swipe action. They looked for a button. Once they discovered the gesture, they adapted quickly, but that first moment of confusion was a barrier. Adding a tappable element at the bottom as a fallback improved usability significantly.
In the final prototype, I chose to replace the swipe navigation with conventional buttons.
Designing clear signifiers for every interaction
During user-testinng I saw that users couldn't always distinguish between clickable and non-clickable elements across airline websites. Buttons looked like headings. Cards didn't indicate they were selectable. Selected states were ambiguous.
I developed a clear visual language. Selectable cards (flight options, extras bundles) have a subtle shadow as if floating, signaling “pick me up.” They sit in horizontal carousels that users can swipe through. Action buttons use flat design with strong contrast and verb-led labels (“Continue to booking”, “Add return flight”) that clearly communicate what will happen. Selected states use a distinct dark background with high-contrast text, leaving no doubt about what's been chosen.
The result was a consistent visual hierarchy. Users always knew what could be selected, what was selected, and what action to take next.
What worked, what I learned, and what I'd do differently
Outcomes
Learning points
Leverage conventions. Users rely heavily on established design patterns. The swipe experiment showed that introducing new interactions requires very strong signifiers and gradual adaptation. Innovation that creates confusion isn't innovation.
Test earlier and rougher. Testing journey sketches and low-fidelity prototypes earlier could have highlighted the swipe navigation issues sooner, before investing in high-fidelity implementation.
Prototype fidelity should match the risk. Use low-fidelity prototypes for testing risky hypotheses and new interactions early. High-fidelity comes later for visual refinement, not for validating whether a concept works at all.
Process as a skill. This project taught me how to structure a full UX process end-to-end: setting goals, planning research, analyzing findings, ideating concepts, and iterating prototypes. It deepened my understanding of UI design principles and the importance of a cohesive design system.