Southwest Airlines
We introduced Group Ticket Linking to reduce gate congestion during delays and cancellations by helping travelers coordinate and rebook without overwhelming gate agents.
Role
Product Designer
UX Researcher
Timeline
Jan - March 2025
Team
May Phan
Riley Nicholson
Zhiyu Ren
Context
Southwest Airlines is known for care and reliability, but that promise gets stress-tested during cancellations and delays. When hundreds of travelers need answers at once, the gate becomes the bottleneck, especially for families and groups trying to coordinate in real time. Our team explored group ticket linking to help travelers rebook with more autonomy and confidence while reducing the workload on gate agents during irregular operations.
Problem
When Flights Cancel, Rebooking Drives Crowds to the Gate and Slows Everything Down
Travelers rush in for answers, and rebooking slows everything down. Gate agents are pushed into crowd control while juggling complex logistics.
The result is a stressful, inefficient experience that leaves customers feeling stranded and staff stretched thin, putting Southwest’s brand at risk.
Design Challenge
How might we increase customer autonomy and employee efficiency during cancellations and delays without sacrificing our award-winning customer service experience?
A quick walkthrough to reduce confusion with the new feature
Testing showed users didn’t understand the new feature on first pass, so we added a short onboarding walkthrough to clarify the value and reduce hesitation
Flexible linking, flexible group control
Travelers can link tickets in advance via an invite link or on the spot at the gate. The organizer can add or remove people, or hand off leadership to keep the group flexible.
Automatically join the trip after booking
When a traveler books through the invite, they are automatically connected to the trip, so everyone shares the same itinerary.
Stay together or split up, without having to wait in line
During delays or cancellations, linked travelers can rebook everyone at once or choose separate options without coordinating in line.
Field Research at Chicago's Midway Airport
Flight Cancellations Turn Group Coordination Into Stress
We conducted field research at Chicago Midway International Airport to understand disruptions. While on site, a flight was unexpectedly canceled, and passengers flooded the gate with only two agents available.
What we observed:
Rebooking became a group coordination problem
Groups struggled to stay aligned, compare options, and decide together
Limited information + a long line forced travelers to compete for clarity
Stress escalated fast as uncertainty piled up
Limited Info + Group Coordination + Long Waits in Line = Stress
To identify where intervention would matter most, we mapped the traveler journey during irregular operations.
While most moments met expectations, stress spiked after cancellations, particularly during gate rebooking , widening the gap between expectation and experience. This framework helped us focus on moments where reducing uncertainty and decision friction could have the greatest impact.
User Archetypes
From interviews and on-site observations, we saw clear patterns in how travelers respond to disruptions. We distilled these behaviors into two archetypes that framed the problem and guided our design decisions.
Commander
Takes charge when plans change
Coordinates logistics for the group while prioritizes flexibility and control
Actively seeks updates and information
Design Requirement: Needs fast, reliable ways to compare options and act on behalf of others.
Go-Along Travelers
Prefers minimal involvement in logistics
Relies on others to make decisions
Avoids managing details unless necessary
Design Requirement: Requires clarity, confidence, and straightforward next steps without adding cognitive load.
Ideation - Crazy-8s Brainstorming
How Should We Approach the Problem Space?
To define feature directions to improve the experience for both flyers and gate agents, our team ran a Crazy-8s brainstorming session. This exercise helped us quickly surface, compare, and combine ideas to address the most critical user pain points.
Aligning with Business Goals
Creating Value for Multiple Stakeholders
For Customers:
Groups can rebook or cancel together without waiting in line, reducing stress during already difficult moments.
For Employees:
The feature offloads routine rebooking tasks, allowing agents to focus on complex cases and provide higher-quality support where it matters most.
Design
Notable Design Iterations
Confusion around ticket linking
Early designs assumed users would understand the value of linking tickets upfront. Travelers hesitated, questioned privacy, and often dismissed the opt-in before understanding the benefit. A short onboarding moment helps by setting expectations early and building trust before disruptions.
First Iteration:
❌ Copy is hard to skim
❌ Card feels heavy over trip info
Second Iteration:
✅ Cleaner layout, faster to read
❌ Looks like a passive banner
❌ Outlined CTA feels easy to ignore
Final Iteration:
✅ Strong hierarchy clarifies the value
✅ Filled “Start tour” drives action
Reassurance and familiarity matter
While Commanders were comfortable moving quickly, Go-Along Travelers looked for familiar steps, such as seat selection, to feel confident. We mirrored existing booking patterns to reduce cognitive load and rebuild trust without slowing the experience down.
Next Steps and Reflection
Validate assumptions with real travelers and agents
Test the group rebooking concept during simulated or live irregular operations to understand how people make decisions under stress and where trust breaks down.
Pressure-test operational feasibility
Partner with gate agents and operations teams to evaluate how ticket linking would integrate with existing workflows and systems during disruptions.
Explore edge cases and scale
Expand the concept to support larger groups, mixed itineraries, accessibility needs, and partial rebooking scenarios, ensuring the experience remains clear and manageable as complexity increases.
This project reinforced that designing for disruptions is about more than speed. Travelers often hesitate even when faster options exist, seeking reassurance through familiarity and clarity. Supporting both the person who takes charge and those who follow helped us design an experience that scales care without removing the human touch.
Designing for irregular operations pushed me to think beyond ideal flows and focus on moments when trust is most fragile. It sharpened my ability to balance autonomy, empathy, and operational realities in complex systems.