We visited Chicago O'Hare International Airport and conducted on-site observations at the boarding gate throughout the day, analyzing passenger behaviors, interactions, and pain points during the boarding process.
United Scan2Go
Improving group boarding for passengers traveling together
Team: Yuhan ke, Benedicta Gokah, Max Kurchitskiy, Bhairavi Ruparel
Individual Contribution: UX Designer and Researcher
Duration: August 2024 - December 2024
Tools: Figma, Mural, and Google Suite
Client: United Airlines
Industry: Airline
Client: United Airlines
Understanding Passenger and Gate Agent Experiences
Problem Space
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Many passengers experience pre-flight anxiety, with preparedness playing a key role in reducing stress.
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Parents juggling bags, strollers, and children face overwhelming challenges, making security checks and boarding difficult.
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The demanding pre-flight process often leaves travelers exhausted before they even reach the gate.
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Families and friends assign roles to manage tasks, but coordinating responsibilities can still be challenging.
"I have to verify and match as you board, they will hand me boarding passes for John Doe while Jane Doe is boarding. We get duplicate scans like that all the time!"
"Usually I will go over here [station behind counter] and say show me who has been scanned in terms of time order so I can know who I missed."
The moment of truth is the interaction between passengers and the gate agent while boarding.
Analysis and Synthesis
While conducting observations and intercept interviews at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, we analyzed the boarding experiences of both gate agents and passengers. From our insights, we identified and categorized key findings into three distinct groups for each.
1. Pre-Boarding Experience
2. Group Dynamics
3. Boarding Experience
1. Staff Interactions
2. Errors and Multiple Scans
3. Technology Implementation and Use
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Consequence Matrix
Which area of focus would have the greatest impact ?
A decision matrix is a decision-making tool that evaluates and prioritizes a list of options, starting with a list of weighted criteria established by the team based on initial conversations with the client, and then evaluating each option against those criteria.
Operational Efficiency
Customer Experience
Score
Pre-Boarding Experience
Group Dynamics
Actual Boarding Experience
Staff Interaction
Errors and Multiple Scans
Technology Implementation and Use
1
2
3
4
2
2
3
2
1
5
2
3
3
3
5
2
3
Focus area with the greatest consequence/ impact on operational efficiency and customer experience.
First Principle Insight
When gate agents manually verify and process multiple documents and touchpoints while managing a continuous flow of passengers, errors tend to occur due to cognitive overload, divided attention, and accidental passenger errors.
Each year, millions of families and groups travel together, representing a substantial segment of United Airlines customer base.
20,000,000
Number of unique PNRs containing 2+ pax. both domestic and international for the year of 2024
20% Domestic
32% International
January 2024 - August 2024
Data provided by United Airlines
Our target audience consists of these three categories:
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Parents with young children
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Elder couples
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Adults traveling with an elderly companion
Design Solutions
Customer Experience Solution
"How might we make a passenger's experience less stressful so they can have the right start to their vacation with their kids?"
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Proposed Solution:
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Offers group boarding pass option during online check-in.
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Includes pre-confirmation step for user review and approval.
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The toggle switch at the top facilitates movement between security modes, Pre-TSA and post-TSA.
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Group boarding pass features clear annotations.
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The number of passengers, names and seat information on the group boarding pass is clearly indicated.
Potential Risks:
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Customer performing an additional step during a critical airport moment.
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Learning curve and user adoption.
These boarding passes reflect both single and group boarding passes
Read the screens in a clockwise order
Design Concept
Our design goal for the group boarding pass was to simplify the airport experience for groups. This drove our design decisions, ensuring users could visualize and access essential information with ease.
We prioritized key features such as:
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Toggle Switch: Switch between TSA security mode and United Airlines group mode
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Number of people associated to the group code
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Passenger seat numbers
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Identifiers for people in the group
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Group QR code
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2
3
5
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Initial concept
Potential Risk:
A key challenge was the reliance on group arrivals. If one member canceled due to an emergency, it disrupted check-in and required adjustments for both the airline and remaining travelers.
Removing a Passenger from a Group Pass:
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Initial Group Pass Access (Airport): Upon first access to the group pass, you are greeted with a welcome message.
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Passenger Selection: Use the "Edit" function to remove a selected passenger from the group.
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Passenger Removal: Select the passenger who is unable to join and proceed with the removal.
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Group Confirmation: Confirm the final number of people in the group.
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Group Boarding Pass Acquisition: Obtain an updated group boarding pass.
Read the screens in a clockwise order
Gate Agent Interface
"How might we reduce the number of possible failure points at the gate?"
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Group Boarding Pass Scan: The gate agent scans the group boarding pass.
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Booking Passenger Identification: The passenger under whose name the tickets were issued is identified.
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Manual Passenger Verification: The gate agent manually verifies the presence of all passengers.
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Group Boarding: The passengers board together.
Gate Agent Verification:
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Enhanced Accuracy through Deliberate Confirmation: The design uses visual cues and selection requirements to ensure accurate passenger verification, balancing speed with accuracy.
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Improved Agent-Passenger Interaction: These visual and selection features prevent accidental actions and promote deliberate confirmation, leading to more interaction between the gate agent and passengers.
Primary Research
Chicago O'Hare International Airport Site Observations
To gain insights into United Airlines' current group boarding process, we conducted observations at O'Hare Airport with the United Airlines team to identify the pain points and behaviors of both gate agents and passengers. Our research utilized methods such as the AEIOU framework to organize observations, along with intercept interviews with passengers and gate agents to understand their experiences and workflows.
Observed complete gate
boarding process `
5 Gates
Passengers preferred digital passes over paper passes
83%
Time taken by a family in boarding group 5 to transition from the waiting area to the jet bridge
2:34 Mins
Key Insights
Prior to boarding, passengers perform various rituals to ease the anxiety when flying
There is unspoken social pressure experienced when boarding as a group
Errors are common, resulting from over-scanning or under-scanning boarding passes at the gate
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Contextual inquiry conducted with a gate agent
Process
To validate the idea of a single-group boarding pass as a potential solution to streamline the boarding process, we conducted a simulation test after analyzing insights from our observations at the airport.
Using a classroom at the Institute of Design, we recreated an airport environment with foam-core structures and 3D-printed tools. These tests aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the new boarding pass compared to individual boarding passes; understand passenger's behavioral considerations and mainly determine the optimal group size for this solution to avoid overburdening passengers or gate agents.
Participants: 12- 15
Duration: 45 Mins
The simulation included two tests:
Controlled test reflecting the current boarding process.
Key Takeaways
It is possible to reduce the boarding time of a group by 46% through implementation of a single group boarding pass.
Test A
01
Operational Impact
Solution test implementing our proposed single-group boarding pass
Test B
Simulation
The classroom simulation setup
Fail-Safe Approach
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A mechanism is needed to handle boarding for groups that are unexpectedly split due to no-shows or delayed arrivals.
Group Pass Limit
03
We hypothesize that boarding becomes less efficient when =<5 people share a single PNR.
User Testing
Following the simulation, we conducted semi-structured user interviews to assess the usability and context of our proposed design. The same user interfaces from the simulation (Tests A and B) were used.
Participants: 10
Duration: 25 mins Per Participant
Key Insights From Users
UI, Features and Usability
“Toggle feature is efficient and makes sense to me."
Somehow make Pre-TSA and Post-TSA more clear, currently its not”
01
“ When it gets to the pop-up to opt in, that process isn’t so smooth. I didn’t know how to get there."
“Also opting in at the airport seems like an extra step especially when you are constantly bombarded at the airport.”
“Also If I opt in, do I get something from it?”
02
“The blue is overpowering the grey so a different color for toggle - highlight it.”
03
“I think the opting into group boarding should happen when people purchase their tickets rather than at the airport. To me that is the most advantageous point to introduce this features. Its always one more thing at the airport and I do not like that”
06
“I would have used this with my fiancé whilst traveling. We always juggle a lot of bags between us when boarding. With this feature, we can delegate who handles the bags and who boards us in”
05
“Its a nice to have for people traveling in groups, but its a necessity for families. I see the use case more for people with some level of familiarity with each other”
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Solution Interface
Controlled Interface
Value Proposition
With Scan2Go, we are confident we can reduce error rates in group boarding, allowing gate agents to dedicate more time and energy to personal interactions with passengers. We believe that improving the boarding experience for millions of passengers will not only increase operational efficiency but also enhance overall Customer Experience (CX) scores for United Airlines.
Error rate for group boarding
User Experience
Personalized Interactions
Operational Efficiency
This project involved rapid client debriefs, problem reframing, risk analysis, and prototyping, offering insights into strategic airline operations.
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Comprehensive Solutions – Observations revealed the importance of agent-facing aspects, leading to their integration.
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Defining the Core Problem – Identifying key pain points and their impact is crucial.
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Quick Usability Testing – Immediate feedback refined the solution and provided fresh perspectives.
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Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement – Aligning solutions with business goals, security regulations, and user needs.
Takeaways
"I know we are boarding soon, but I feel so anxious!"
"We do not travel with paper passes. We avoid that at all costs. The children always want to scan their own passes at the gate. The last time we did that, one lost his pass and the other got wet