How Can Airline Websites Improve?

by Meg Nesterov on

I recently visited the mobile website for midwest-based Sun Country Airlines, where I could check a flight status, view schedules or check my itinerary. Basically everything except what I came to do: book a flight. The confusing, unattractive, user-unfriendly design of airline websites is a common complaint of travelers, and a problem that the designers at Fi (Fantasy Interactive) have attempted to solve.

Their mock website and accompanying video highlights high-quality images, visual details such as weather temperatures, street maps and city sights, and a seamless, all-in-one-screen experience from flight booking to seat selection to flight status. Their design makes the airline more than a transportation company. It makes them a travel authority, tour guide and most importantly, a source of inspiration.

This wasn’t the first attempt at an airline website overhaul. In 2009, user interface designer Dustin Curtis published an open letter to American Airlines on his website, along with his idea of a website redesign. This was followed up by an anonymous response from one of AA’s designers, who was then fired for his message to Mr. Curtis. Funny enough, his vision of a new AA.com is pretty similar to what the airline unveiled this year with their new logo, with large images, links to deals and news and an overall streamlined look.

For something completely different, check out Anna Kovecses’ minimalist and vaguely retro design for American, along with a user-generated blog community where you might leave travel tips for frequent flyer miles.Delta relaunched its site last year with features including a travel “wallet” to store receipts to make their site more “customized” to travelers. Swedish designer Erik Linden’s gorgeous layout for a new Lufthansa site can be found online, but a visit to the German airline’s official site shows the same old crowded page. JetBlue.com has been consistently appealing and easy to use, touting the “jetting” experience rather than just a seat. Travel industry news site Skift has a nifty slideshow comparing booking sites now and from their early days. (The major innovation seems to be images over hyperlinks and text.)

One thing many of these designs have in common is suggestion and inspiration. Airlines seem to assume that most of us go to their website with a firm destination in mind, burying their route map deep in a sub-menu for us to hunt down. Yet if we are to be loyal to one brand or try to use frequent flyer miles, a map of their flights is the first destination. My husband is trying to make “million miler” status with American, and tries to book with them as much as possible, maximizing the distance and number of miles. While I can search for destinations from JFK, and even sort my number of miles, it’s harder to figure out what international destinations (such as Seoul) are served from another departure city. Shouldn’t the goal be for the airline to be one you want to return to, rather than a site you quit using out of frustration?

What matters to you in using an airline’s booking site?

Airlines Can’t Keep Up With Customers’ Social Media Complaints

by Rob Annis on

Days after the son of an irate passenger bought a promoted tweet to shame British Airways, a second European airline is feeling the sting of a social media barrage aimed at its alleged ineptitude.

Air Berlin flight 8109 took off on August 9 without a single piece of checked baggage for the 200 passengers on board. Making matters even worse, it couldn’t locate any of the bags for weeks, causing a storm of Twitter complaints and a Facebook page devoted to the debacle.

That one incident would be bad enough, but according to Slate.com, Air Berlin also lost the musical instruments of two high-profile touring bands, one from Sweden and the other from Canada. The Toronto-based Metz vented their frustrations on Twitter, first to announce their gear was lost and again, two weeks later, to announce they’d finally recovered their instruments.

Scrolling down the airline’s Twitter page, visitors are met with apology after apology by the airline for missing baggage. Compliments on great service are hard to find.

How much of an impact are the angry Facebook posts and tweets really having? It’s obvious from the most recent complaints that Air Berlin hasn’t fixed the problems. Despite Hasan Syed’s tweet which received more than 25,000 impressions, British Airways has yet to respond publicly. Doctor Who and Torchwood fan favorite actor John Barrowman let his 217,000 followers know when he had an issue with a late departure and faulty seat on his Delta Airlines flight, but didn’t provide a promised update of a potential resolution.

From personal experience, I can say angry tweets aimed at Delta Airlines for a disastrous overseas flight in June never received a response. (Although to be fair, they did respond later after my wife logged an official complaint. More than 30 days after the initial complaint, but hey, Delta is rarely on time for anything.)

Have you used social media to lodge a complaint against an airline? What’s been the end result? Does social media shaming work or are old-fashioned complaint calls still the best way to vent your frustration?

Vermont Airport Introduces “Lactation Station” For Mothers

by Meg Nesterov on

Traveling mothers have things a bit easier in Vermont at Burlington’s airport after a “lactation station” was installed, allowing mothers to breastfeed or pump in a private booth post-security. The modular Mamava Lactation Station has room for luggage and a stroller, a fold-down table and power adapters, soft lighting, and antimicrobial surfaces. The station provides a clean and private alternative to using a bathroom or other public space during a layover or before a flight.

Burlington Airport was the site of a “nurse in” protest in 2006 after a breastfeeding mother was removed from a flight, and will be the first in the world to have the nursing kiosk. Burlington aviation director Gene Richards worked with Mamava directly, as part of making the airport experience “as relaxing as possible.”

As a parent and frequent traveler, I’m happy to see a way to make travel a little easier, with or without a baby. While I have breastfed (discreetly) in public all over the world without anyone noticing or caring, pumping requires a certain amount of privacy. As this station will also benefit mothers traveling without babies who pump and want to take bottles through security, it’s providing a solution to a problem. Moreover, it shows that airports can respond to passenger needs and add amenities, rather than take them away. We can all drink to that!

Now Is A Good Time To Become A Pilot

by Elizabeth Seward on

If you’ve ever wanted to become a pilot, now is a good time to follow through on that desire. According to USA Today, airlines are now preparing to face a pilot shortage that will leave the industry needing almost half a million new pilots by 2032.

Three of the biggest factors behind this swelling need for pilots are expanding fleets for many airlines, more complex laws enacted regarding pilot safety, and approaching retirement for many pilots. The increase in pilot demand is greater than previously reported by Boeing and the fact that flight school loans can sometimes reach $100,000 isn’t helping to narrow the gap between pilot supply and demand.

So if becoming a pilot has always been a dream of yours, now is a good time to realize that dream –- the travel industry needs you.

Long Layover? Pick Up a Free Book at the Airport

by Libby Zay on

Although there are plenty of ways to pass the time at an airport, nothing is quite like getting lost in a novel or guidebook. Unfortunately, if you forgot your book at home (or failed to load your e-reader), newsstands often don’t have much in the way of selection. But the good news is, an increasing number of airports are staking a claim on the lending library trend.

USA Today reports local libraries are using airport storefronts and kiosks to lend paper books to travelers during their layovers. Some are also setting up stations for e-book downloads. In several cases, the libraries provide a relaxing place set aside from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the airport-and more often than not, there’s free WiFi. Here are a few places where you should be on the lookout for a good read:

National Airports with Libraries

  • Cherry Capital Airport, Michigan
  • Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Florida
  • Harrisburg International Airport, Pennsylvania
  • Manhattan Regional Airport, Kansas
  • San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library, California
  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington

International Airports with Libraries

  • Schiphol Airport, Netherlands
  • Helsinki Airport, Finland

And if you’re looking for some inspiring travel reads, here are the 25 Best Contemporary Travel Books. You might want to pick those ones up before you head off on your trip, though.

[via Skift.com / USA Today]