Redesigning Flight Disruption Recovery
When flights are cancelled or delayed, passengers need to rebook quickly—but they don't trust the self-service options in United's mobile app. Instead, they turn to Google Flights or wait for an agent to help. This creates friction at the worst possible moment and overwhelms the contact center with rebooking requests that could be handled in-app.
Key Pain Points
Before diving into design, I collaborated with my principal designer and UX research team to establish clear design goals. We developed several "How might we" statements to frame our problem-solving:
How might we streamline the re-shop flow to assist customers faster?
How might we improve communication during disruption?
How might we provide peace of mind about baggage?
How might we help customers understand all available options?
How might we make self-service intuitive to reduce contact center calls?
The Design Dilemma
Our leadership wanted all rebooking options (confirmed flights and standby) displayed upfront on a single screen. However, from a technical perspective, the system required customers to first confirm a flight before adding themselves to standby, making a mixed layout more complex than linear.
Rather than argue against leadership's vision, I advocated for bringing in the customer's voice through A/B testing. My principal designer supported this approach, and we partnered with our research team to validate which design customers actually preferred.
We conducted an unmoderated concept test with 16 United passengers who had experienced flight changes or cancellations in the past 6 months using UserTesting.com.
Key Research Insights
“It's incredibly helpful and shortens the process to rebook without the need to wait on hold to speak to an agent.”
“I like the idea of having a backup flight in the event it's canceled AGAIN. However, the overall verbiage is vague and doesn't provide much help.”
Critical Finding
Armed with research insights, we moved forward with Design A (linear approach) but enriched it with clearer messaging and visual signals. The key improvements:
Stakeholder Buy-In
When I presented the research insights to leadership, they immediately understood why the linear approach was superior. The customer voice made all the difference—showing that real travelers preferred clear messaging and guided steps over information overload. This shifted the conversation from 'what we think is best' to 'what customers actually prefer.'
Redesign launched on the mobile app in late January 2024, alongside mobile web and united.com. The improvements have been performing beautifully, with customers increasingly self-servicing and trusting the app's recommendations.
This project taught me the power of bringing customer research into difficult conversations. When stakeholder vision conflicts with design intuition, the answer isn't to argue harder—it's to test with real users. The data from just 16 passengers was enough to shift an entire organization's direction.
I also learned that this was far from a one-and-done deliverable. Since launch, we've continued to refine the experience, add edge cases, and expand the foundation we built. The work continues as we explore additional disruption scenarios and expand self-service capabilities.
