Google Flights
Simplify award flights search through Google Flights
My Role
Interaction Design
UX Design
User Research
Timeline
April 2023 (2 weeks)
Tools Used
Notion
Google Forms
Figma
Many travelers participate in loyalty programs offered by airlines and hotels, as well as credit card rewards programs, in order to earn points or miles that can be redeemed for travel rewards such as flights and hotel stays. However, searching for and booking award flights can be a time-consuming and complex process, as availability and redemption rates vary depending on the loyalty program and the airline.
The Problem
Project Goals
Compare award flight redemption options in one place
Simplify the award flight research process
Allow users to maximize the value of their rewards
Research Goals
In order to design an intuitive and efficient award flight search feature for Google Flights, our research goal is to identify the pain points and challenges faced by users when searching for award flights across multiple loyalty and partnership programs. Specifically, we aim to investigate the factors that influence a user's decision-making process, the difficulties encountered when navigating loyalty programs, and the features users value most in an award flight search experience.
Competitive Analysis
My key findings from competitors were:
Award Hacker is completely free but has limited advanced features and results are hypothetical.
Expert Flyer & Point.me offer various subscription plans at different prices
Expert Flyer & Point.me do not allow searches on free account
All competitors lack an advanced feature to search for flexible dates
I created a survey to reach out to travelers with and without experience of searching for award flights
I built this survey asking travelers about their experience with searching for award flights.
From my survey, I learned:
87.5% of users search for flights using a desktop/laptop
62.5% of users have participated in loyalty programs, airlines, and credit card partnerships
75% of users use Google Flights to search for flights
62.5% of users are unaware of award flights while only 37.5% of the users are aware of award flights and have experience redeeming for them
When asked about their experience with researching & redeeming award flights, users expressed the following frustrations:
Users are unsure if they are getting the most value out of their award flights
Users redeem straight from participating airline websites and are unable to compare prices from other airline alliances.
Limited options for award flights comparison
100% of the users expressed interest in having an award flight search feature added to Google Flights for the following reasons:
Reduce time on researching to find the cheapest (lowest points) flights
Ability to compare points/miles from various loyalty programs at once
Motivate users to maximize their reward benefits
Have access to see more affordable flights
User Persona
After organizing my research results and finding common themes, I created two user personas to dig deeper into the user’s pain points and goals.
User Flows
Creating user flows of the award flight searching process helped me to consider each step of the user journey.
Wireframes
After constructing the layout of the website through the user flows, I translated them into low-fidelity wireframes using Figma.
Usability Testing
I recruited participants to conduct testing. After gathering the feedback, I analyzed and prioritized the testing results for iterations.
To address users’ feedback, the following changes were made:
Moving the placement of the “search award flights” checkbox below the text fields and make it more prominent.
Allowing users to view the flexible calendar by selecting a date range or monthly view.
Adding the surcharges & tax price in the flexible date calendar/grid.
Making the toggle button for tracking points slightly bigger.
Adding an info button next to “search award flight” to provide context for the feature.
Final Design
Takeaways
Navigating Time Constraints & Project Management: Due to time constraints on this project, I learned a lot of new ways to go about time management, and project management to meet the deadline of the project. This contributed to my growth as a designer because it challenged my skills as a designer to prioritize design decisions as well as to test out my problem-solving skills.