Khushi Gupta - Product Designer

MY RESUME

Rethinking Southwest

Redesigning Southwest Airlines critical booking failures, backed by mixed-methods research and validated through a second round of usability testing.

Timeline

Sept 2024 - Dec 2024

My Team

Khushi / Product Designer

Ananya / Product Designer

Mitchell / UX Researcher

Dori / UX Researcher

Project Type

Academic Project: ISE 217, HCI

Platform

Web [Desktop]

Through a survey of 21 users and usability testing with 5 participants, our team identified three critical friction points in Southwest's booking experience. I co-led the redesign of all three, improving average ease of use ratings from 4 to 6.5 out of 10, while reducing task completion time and number of clicks across all tested scenarios.

THE BACKGROUND

Competitive Analysis

Context

This project was conducted as part of ISE 217 at San Jose State University, with the goal of applying Human Factors and UX research methods to a real-world digital product. Rather than a full redesign, we identified the critical friction points in Southwest's booking experience and proposed targeted, evidence-backed design interventions.

The Problem

Southwest Airlines is one of the most beloved and affordable carriers in the U.S., known for no change fees and a customer-first philosophy. But affordability means nothing if users can not complete their booking.

Despite the airline’s reputation for simplicity, our research revealed a consistent and significant breakdown in usability the moment a trip gets even slightly complex.

Users were not failing because they did not understand travel, they were failing because the interface was not meeting them where they were.

The Problem

Despite the airline’s reputation for simplicity, our research revealed a consistent and significant breakdown in usability the moment a trip gets even slightly complex.

Users were not failing because they did not understand travel, they were failing because the interface was not meeting them where they were.

Users Pain Points

During our usability sessions, participants did not just struggle silently, they verbalized their frustration in real time. Common themes that emerged across sessions:

Pinpointing Issues

The 3 Critical Failure Points:

The Filter Visibility Problem: The sort and filter bar blended so seamlessly into the surrounding UI that 3 out of 5 participants scrolled past it entirely, manually scanning every flight result instead of using the tool designed to help them.
The Hotel Booking Disconnect: The hotel booking touchpoint appeared inconsistently across the flow, leaving 4 out of 5 participants unable to complete a bundle booking without significant confusion or backtracking.
The Multi-City Black Hole: Hidden behind a post-search, Modify button with no homepage entry point, the multi-city feature was effectively invisible, leaving users to either give up or book each flight leg separately.

The 3 Critical Failure Points:

The Filter Visibility Problem: The sort and filter bar blended so seamlessly into the surrounding UI that 3 out of 5 participants scrolled past it entirely, manually scanning every flight result instead of using the tool designed to help them.
The Hotel Booking Disconnect: The hotel booking touchpoint appeared inconsistently across the flow, leaving 4 out of 5 participants unable to complete a bundle booking without significant confusion or backtracking.
The Multi-City Black Hole: Hidden behind a post-search, Modify button with no homepage entry point, the multi-city feature was effectively invisible, leaving users to either give up or book each flight leg separately.

THE SOLUTION

Our Goals

Make what exists findable, reduce friction at every complex decision point, and preserve the experience users already know.

Hypothesized Solution

We initially believed a comprehensive visual overhaul was the answer. Research told us otherwise.

Our data pointed to something more surgical, users were not struggling because of how the interface looked. They were struggling because of where critical features lived. That shifted our entire approach from redesign to targeted intervention.

Hypothesized Solution

We initially believed a comprehensive visual overhaul was the answer. Research told us otherwise.

Our Solution

Surface the filter and sort functionality prominently so users can find the cheapest flight without manual scanning

Integrate hotel booking naturally and consistently within the existing flight booking flow
Make multi-city booking accessible directly from the homepage
Consolidate frequently accessed features into one persistent, easy-to-reach panel throughout the booking experience

Surface the filter and sort functionality prominently so users can find the cheapest flight without manual scanning

Integrate hotel booking naturally and consistently within the existing flight booking flow
Make multi-city booking accessible directly from the homepage
Consolidate frequently accessed features into one persistent, easy-to-reach panel throughout the booking experience

My Impact

I co-led design execution and brought a fourth solution to the table independently, A Flight Booking Essentials Panel

As one of two designers on the team, I translated research findings into targeted design interventions. Beyond the shared work, I independently identified a behavioral pattern in our data and proposed a solution the research hadn't directly surfaced, a consolidated frequently accessed features panel.

My Impact

RESEARCH

We used a mixed-methods approach to understand not just what was breaking, but why.

UX Audit

Our team conducted a systematic heuristic evaluation of Southwest's existing interface against established usability principles. Two critical violations stood out immediately:

The visibility of system status, where the multi-city feature gave users no indication it existed
Consistency and standards, where the hotel booking touchpoint appeared differently across the flow depending on user path.

Heuristic Evaluation of the existing site:

We conducted moderated usability testing with 5 participants across three realistic booking scenarios on the live Southwest website. Participants were observed completing each task while we recorded time of completion, number of clicks, and qualitative ease of use ratings.

Formative Moderated Usability Testing:

Following our usability testing, we conducted a card sorting exercise to understand users' mental models around Southwest's information architecture.
Participants sorted features across four categories : Booking, Modify, Travel Information, and Miscellaneous.
The results revealed consistent expectations about where booking-related features should live, directly informing our decision to surface hotel booking and multi-city options within the primary booking flow.

Card Sorting:

Key Discoveries

Across our heuristic evaluation, usability testing, and card sorting, the same theme emerged repeatedly, Southwest's interface was built for simple bookings and left users stranded the moment they needed more.

The problems were not about missing features. They were about discoverability, consistency, and information architecture. That finding became the foundation of every design decision we made.

Task 1

Finding the Cheapest Holiday Flight

137 seconds, 15 clicks

01 / 03

User Personas

THE DESIGN PROCESS

The Process

We used the double diamond as our guiding framework throughout the project. The first diamond pushed us to understand Southwest's users deeply before drawing any conclusions.

The second diamond focused our energy on designing targeted solutions rather than broad changes. The process kept us honest, every design decision needed to trace back to something we observed or measured.

Ideation

Before sketching a single screen, we defined what success looked like for each problem area.

Our research phase surfaced three clear design requirements that became the guardrails for every decision we made:

Flight Booking: The multi-city option needed to be accessible directly from the homepage, not buried behind an active search. Users should know it exists before they start booking.
Searching for Flights: The sort and filter feature needed to be locatable within 5 seconds of landing on the results page. Users should be able to filter by price, duration, departure time, and number of stops, not just sort by a single condition.
Booking Packages: Once a user selects a flight, hotel and package options should be salient and consistent within the booking flow. Users should be aware of all available options before reaching checkout.

Wireframes

We started low-fidelity to focus on structure and flow before committing to visual decisions.

User Testing

After completing our high-fidelity prototype we ran a second round of moderated usability testing with 4 participants completing the same three tasks on our redesigned prototype.
This gave us a direct before and after comparison against our Part 1 baseline data. The results validated our design decisions across every metric, task completion time dropped, click counts decreased, and ease of use ratings improved from an average of 4 to 6.5 out of 10.

The hotel booking feature showed the most improvement in discoverability, while the multi-city flow still showed some hesitation from participants unfamiliar with the ‘Add Destination’ interaction.

TESTING & VALIDATION

THE DESIGN

Final Designs & Key Features

CONCLUSION

Reflections

This project was our contribution to understanding where Southwest's booking experience could better serve people who rely on it the most.
What started as an academic exercise became a genuine lesson in how small, targeted changes can meaningfully improve the way people experience a product they already love.

Result

The research identified the problems. The redesign addressed them. The numbers confirmed it worked.

We found out that ease of use improved from 4 to 6.5 out of 10. Task completion time and clicks dropped across all three scenarios.

Project Takeaways

The most valuable lesson from this project was not about Southwest specifically, it was about the relationship between research and design. Going in, our team assumed the interface needed a visual overhaul.
The research told us something more precise and more actionable. Features were not missing, they were just hidden. That reframe changed everything, our scope became tighter, our decisions became more defensible, and our outcomes became measurable.

Also, working within an existing brand's visual language also taught me a discipline I had not fully appreciated before. Every design choice had to earn its place within a system users already knew.

Constraints

Since we had 5 participants in Part 1, of usability testing and 4 in Part 2 , the findings are directional, not statistically conclusive
Academic timeline limited our ability to run multiple iterative testing cycles between design phases

Future Work

If we had more time, here is where we would go next:

The multi-city flow showed the most remaining friction in Part 2 testing. With another iteration we would introduce progressive disclosure, guiding users through adding destinations one step at a time rather than presenting the full form upfront.
We would also explore mobile responsiveness, since a significant portion of flight bookings happen on mobile and our redesign focused exclusively on the desktop experience.
Finally, a full accessibility audit would ensure our changes did not introduce new barriers for users with visual or motor impairments.

The Filter Option

Finding the cheapest flight should take seconds, not minutes. We redesigned the filter to be immediately visible and more dynamic, giving users control over price, duration, stops, and departure time in one place.

Hotel Packages

Most users never knew Southwest offered flight and hotel bundles. We surfaced the package prompt consistently at the end of the flight selection, right when users are ready to think about where they're staying.

Multi-city Bookings

The multi-city feature existed. Users just couldn't find it. We brought it to the homepage alongside One-Way and Round Trip options, making it a first class option from the very first click.

Consolidated Frequently Accessed Panel

The Four features users kept navigating back to: Baggage Fees, Low Fare Calendar, Revisit Your Search, and Explore Destinations that were scattered across the site. I proposed consolidating them into one persistent panel so users never lose their booking progress while finding what they need.

Khushi Gupta

Good design starts with a conversation. Big ideas, small details — either way, I'm in.

Let's Collaborate!

khushi05workmail@gmail.com

WORKS ABOUT THE ETCETERAIUM

Made with 5 parts coffee, 3 parts all-nighters, Framer cold foam, and a sprinkle of vibe coding with Claude✨🧿

MY RESUME

Our Goals

Make what exists findable, reduce friction at every complex decision point, and preserve the experience users already know.