{"id":518,"date":"2019-02-13T04:45:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T04:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/measuringu.com\/ux-airlines-2019\/"},"modified":"2023-03-22T15:12:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T21:12:19","slug":"ux-airlines-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/measuringu.com\/ux-airlines-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"The UX of Airline Websites (2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Booking a flight online involves more than selecting two cities and departure times.<\/p>\n Airlines have given consumers many more choices when booking a flight.<\/p>\n Do you want:<\/p>\n Each choice requires a decision and has a cost implication. In fact, fees from these choices and other add-ons<\/a> now account for the bulk of the profits for many airlines.<\/p>\n More choices also come with more opportunities for errors. To better understand the online booking process, we benchmarked the user experience of seven popular airline websites to see how people are using these services and where the processes can be improved.<\/p>\n \u25cf Alaska Airlines<\/a> This study had three parts:<\/p>\n Full details are available in the downloadable report<\/a>. Here are the highlights.<\/p>\n We used a combination of perception and task data to understand both what existing customers think and what new and existing customers do on the websites. We recruited 461 participants in January 2019 for perception and usability studies.<\/p>\n For the perception study, we asked 246 participants who had visited either American Airlines, Delta, jetBlue, Southwest, or United in the past year to reflect on their most recent experience using the site.<\/p>\n Participants in the study answered the 8-item SUPR-Q<\/a> (including the Net Promoter Score) and questions about their prior experience. In particular, we were interested in visitors\u2019 attitudes toward the site, problems they had with the site, and reasons they use the website.<\/p>\n For the task-based usability study, we asked 215 participants to book a flight on one of the seven websites (assignment was random and included a mix of first time and existing users) and recorded their experience on MUIQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n The SUPR-Q<\/a> is a standardized measure of the quality of a website\u2019s user experience and is a good way to gauge users\u2019 attitudes. It\u2019s based on a rolling database of around 150 websites across dozens of industries.<\/p>\n Scores are percentile ranks and tell you how a website experience ranks relative to the other websites. The SUPR-Q provides an overall score as well as detailed scores for subdimensions of trust, usability, appearance, and loyalty. Its ease item can also predict an accurate SUS equivalent score.<\/p>\n The scores for the five airline websites in the perception study (using only existing users) are above average at the 81st percentile (scoring better than 81% of the websites in the database). This average is almost identical to the 79th percentile we found in our 2014 benchmark .<\/p>\n There was still a lot of variation between airlines. American Airlines has the lowest SUPR-Q score in the group (70th percentile SUPR-Q score and SUS equivalent score<\/a> of 77), while Southwest leads with scores at the 92nd percentile and a SUS equivalent score of 81.<\/p>\n Since our last benchmark of airlines in 2014<\/a>, the overall user experience hasn\u2019t changed much. Southwest was also the leader in 2014 and its score has remained the same. The task-based usability study used both new and existing customers to gauge infrequent or first time usage. Consequently, all SUPR-Q scores were lower. Frontier and United had the lowest SUPR-Q scores (and lowest SUS equivalents of 65 and 61 respectively). American Airlines had the lowest task success scores, driven by unnoticeable and inefficient forms for multiple passengers (see below).<\/p>\n The airline websites had high trust scores, with an average of 93%. Participants expressed highest trust toward Southwest (98%), followed by United at 96%. Although still high, the lowest trust scores belonged to American Airlines and jetBlue (90%).<\/p>\n While users trust the airline websites, they\u2019re unlikely to recommend them. The average NPS score was 8%, suggesting that few airline websites (and consequently airlines) enjoy a loyal customer base and that most customers choose an airline based on other factors, such as price and routes. People were least likely to recommend United (-8%) and American Airlines (-6%), and most likely to recommend jetBlue (29%) and Southwest (23%).<\/p>\n To get a sense of what kinds of activities participants most often do when they visit the airline sites, we asked how they accessed the site and the tasks recently attempted.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, the majority of participants reported only visiting airline websites a few times a year, which fits with how often<\/a>[pdf] most people travel by air.<\/p>\n Looking at airfares was the top reason participants reported for visiting an airline website on a desktop or laptop computer (61%), followed by purchasing an airline ticket (48%), and checking in to a flight (24%). Interestingly, the top tasks differed on mobile; we found that participants use the mobile app most often to check in to a flight (52%), check the status of a flight (35%), and retrieve boarding passes (34%).<\/p>\n Some participants mentioned they use a desktop or laptop to purchase tickets because it feels more secure and is easier on the larger screen:<\/p>\n \u201cThe desktop version of the site is much easier to navigate for routine bookings\u2026it makes me feel more confident when I can see it on a larger screen.\u201d (United user)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cJust easier to book flights [on a desktop] because I don’t want to risk that on mobile.\u201d (United user)<\/em><\/p>\n Overall, mobile app usage is low for airlines (16% across airlines). jetBlue and Delta had the highest percentage of mobile app users (19% and 18%, respectively). As expected, participants reported using the mobile app more when they\u2019re traveling and in the airport.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s easier to find things and make reservations on the desktop. I use the app when I’m at the airport or traveling.\u201d (American Airlines user)<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI’ve used [the Southwest app] mainly just to check in on my flight and retrieve my reservations.\u201d (Southwest user)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n The usability study revealed 15 unique problem types across the websites. The main problems users encountered were unclear filtering options, difficulty selecting seats, an abundance of passenger information required, and issues using the calendar selectors.<\/p>\n American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Frontier, and United were the four lowest scorers in the usability study, with the lowest overall SUPR-Q scores and task completion rates. Full details on the problems and task metrics are available in the report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Filtering and Sorting Options Are Unnoticeable<\/strong> In particular, 40% of users failed to notice the filtering and sorting options on the American Airlines website making it difficult to find the cheapest flight, which contributed to it having the lowest task success rates in the group (40%). American Airlines also had the lowest SUPR-Q score in the retrospective study (70%).<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I had to look through all the selections available, they were not in order of the time of departure. It would be nicer if the time of departure were set in order so it can be easily selected throughout the process without taking too much time.\u201d (American Airlines user)<\/em><\/p>\n American Airlines and Delta also had the lowest agreement rates with the statement: \u201cIt\u2019s easy for me to filter through the flights on the website.\u201d Only 76% of participants agreed with that statement about the American Airlines and Delta websites, whereas 91% agreed that it was easy on Southwest.<\/p>\n We recommend making the options to sort and filter flights more noticeable to improve the booking experience. Being able to narrow flights will allow users to find the right flight.<\/p>\n\n
\n\u25cf American Airlines<\/a>
\n\u25cf Delta<\/a>
\n\u25cf Frontier<\/a>
\n\u25cf jetBlue<\/a>
\n\u25cf Southwest<\/a>
\n\u25cf United<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Study & Participant Details<\/h2>\n
Measuring the Airline Website UX: SUPR-Q<\/h2>\n
\nUnited has made some progress in trust (going from the 76th percentile to the 96th) and appearance (going from the 35th percentile to the 51st). Delta has had some declines in loyalty, from the 79th percentile in 2014 to the 66th today. Other than that, however, overall SUPR-Q scores haven\u2019t changed significantly in the intervening years.<\/p>\nTrust & Loyalty<\/h3>\n
Desktop vs. Mobile App Usage<\/h2>\n
Problems in the Booking Process<\/h2>\n
\nSorting and filtering the available flight results was found to be a key driver of the airline website experience, explaining about 6% of the variation in SUPR-Q scores. Yet we observed that many participants missed the filtering options on the American Airlines, Delta, jetBlue, and Southwest websites suggesting this is a clear opportunity for improvement.<\/p>\n