CASE STUDY 7: Airport Application (Improving UX)
Scenario
Mark Spencer has a one-way flight in December to LAX(Los Angeles International Airport, US) from COK(Cochin International Airport, Kerala) with a stopover at Dubai on Emirates Airlines.
Problems at COK
Long queues
No signboards
Staff is bad and insufficient
These problems lead to a bad user experience, which needs to be improved so that more and more passengers would love to visit the airport and increase tourism in Kerala.
This airport is India’s first total solar powered airport.
Why Kerala?
It is one of the most beautiful cities and is the 6th best tourist destination in India. Many students too travel abroad for higher studies. The literacy rate in Kerala is the highest in India i.e. 77.7% according to a recent survey. There are many other reasons like Kerala Backwaters, Wildlife, food, accommodation, plantations, hill stations etc.
My task
To improve the user experience of the passengers travelling to Los Angeles from the airport. To provide users what they are not able to get manually. To assist them when no one is around.
Main focus to improve starts from entering the airport till passenger reaches boarding gate.
My Process
My main concern was to understand the Cochin International Airport and read its reviews online.
Reviews:
Source: https://www.airlinequality.com/airport-reviews/cochin-airport/
On understanding the main problems, it came out that main issues were:
Long queues
No signboards
Staff is bad and insufficient
So now, I had to decide which problem should be firstly focused on. So, I initiated the process by focusing on the User Personas.
User Personas
PROCESS
LONG QUEUES
The main problem according to me which should be focused is the verification process that takes place at multiple spots which causes long queues and makes people wait for long. This creates a bad experience for passengers.
There are many reasons for long queues
- No funding neccessary
- Insufficient Staff
- Many people coming at a single time
One of the possible solutions is that the people can be allotted a particular time near which they should come to the airport. This may not be mandatory but to prevent congestion at airport this can be one of the solutions. And further on, they would get notification prior to their flight timings on whether they should reach the airport how many hours before.
Rather than that, there must be only one place where the total verification should be done on the application itself. And on scanning their QR code the machine, it would automatically show whether they have been following the process of standing in the queue (which in this case would be much faster as it is now automated) or not.
In times like COVID, airports are already asking people to take boarding pass prior on coming to airport and sending the stickers for the baggage beforehand.
NO SIGN BOARDS
The next big problem this airport had was no sign boards that caused stoppage to many that irritated many people as their staff was not enough for guiding all the people.
Augmented reality is the future where people will be guided by their phone cameras to whichever direction they re looking for.
Some directions according to the 2D representation can be one of the solutions for people to reach their destination.
Outline of Scope
The application should focus on all the below things. This will help in engagement with the application more and more. We can also add some of the other features like news or show some statics so that people can estimate how much time it may take them to enter their flight.
User Needs
- Directions to Shop & Restaurants
- Airport Rules and regulations
- Images & Price
- Steps at the airport for reference
- Extra information about the airport for people to read while waiting for their flights to arrive
Client Needs:
- Providing assistance by request(can give a tip)
- Show people that there is a lot of congestion
- Desired time to come at the airport
- Flights stuts
Functionality Requirements:
- Ask for assistance by staff(elderly or someone carrying small child)
- QR Code scan at single stage
- Scanning at every pit stop
- Checks whether all the steps were followed or not
- Ask people some MCQs so that their doubts are cleared with that.
If we focus on the above points then two main problems can be solved eventually and effectively.
Target Audience
- Super excited
- Happy after visiting Kerala
- Have positive feedback about the places visited
- Are willing to come back again after a short interval of time
We can not risk all these good impressions by giving them a bad experience while leaving the city as it may affect their future decisions and reviews. This will affect future traffic that could have been generated if the current experience was made right.
At last, we want our users to be happy with less manual working so that he/she could recommend to others about the amazing experience.
