BA PA
The British Airways Personal Assistant
Helping passengers feel safer and more prepared for their journey while flying during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Role: UX researcher & designer
Duration: 9 weeks
Industry: Aviation
Brief: Design an evidence based and meaningful design solution to a brief set by a sponsoring organization, British Airways.
As one of the world’s leading airlines, British Airways has the responsibility to instill trust in their customers and ensure that their passengers feel safe at every stage of their journey.
A shift in the global health climate calls for a shift in industry to better adapt to their customers’ evolving needs.
Context
The COVID-19 pandemic led to increased Government regulations and heightened concerns about personal safety, especially in airports where people congregate from all over the world.
Problem
How can we ensure our customers feel confident to make informed decisions and travel safely throughout their journey, from planning to post flight?
Approach
Interviews
7 participants | 18-26 yrs old | 4 male, 3 female
We spoke with people who had experience flying during the pandemic get to learn about their overall attitudes, experiences and concerns about flying during this time.
Survey
70 participants | 18-70 yrs old | 23 male, 47 female
We realized that the interview participants were all from a similar age group, so we decided to circulate a survey inquiring about flying experiences during covid to capture the attitudes and beliefs of a broader range of participants.
Journey mapping
12 participants | 18-88 yrs old | 5 male, 7 female
Participants who had not flown during the pandemic were asked to describe their expectations of flying during COVID at each stage of the experience, from planning, to within the airport, to post-flight.
Diary study
1 participant | 23 yrs old | 1 female
During the project, I travelled via plane. We took this opportunity to get the latest information about the pandemic travel experience. My experience was recorded through photos and excerpts, with focus placed on points where I felt unsure or lost as a passenger.
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The unsettling feeling of 'entering the unknown' was a key concern for passengers, especially on the flight itself. The reality of plane travel during COVID often does not align with their expectations.
What we found
02
With increased Covid-19 concerns and decreased face-to-face interaction, passengers are missing an element of personal touch that shows them the airline is considering their needs and taking care of them.
How might we deliver an element of personal touch to passengers in a low-touch world?
Ideation & development
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We used this method to rapidly generate ideas for possible solutions to address passenger concerns when flying during Covid-19. Similar ideas were grouped and evaluated target users key pain points.
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When we settled on the concept for our solution, we tested our wireframes to identify any potential areas of improvement in our design.
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We conducted additional rounds of usability testing with the hi-fidelity prototype to uncover any issues or inconsistencies within the design.
Final concept
British Airways Personal Assistant
With BA PA, passengers have a personal assistant in their pocket.
BA PA is a smartphone app that acts as a personal guide for BA passengers who want to feel safe and confident while traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It provides an inclusive personalized experience where passengers can feel reassured that they are receiving reliable and relevant information. Passengers will feel supported by their digital friend and feel ready to take on their journey.
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Home Page
Passengers can customize their homepage to include information they care about the most. This could be a countdown to their flight, a map of the airport, the next items on their checklist, or even links to relevant news articles.
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PA Chat
The personal assistant is accessible on every page within the app and uses machine learning to answer any questions passengers have throughout their journey. If there is a questions BA PA cannot answer, it will connect passengers with a customer service representative.
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Checklist
When passengers input their flight details, BA PA will auto-generate a personalized checklist which includes tasks such as document uploads and required covid tests. The use of location tracking enables the checklist to automatically update according to passenger location and provide the latest guidance to passengers throughout their journey.
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Upload documents
Important documents such as passenger locator forms and proof of negative covid tests can be uploaded here so that all documents are stored in one place and are easily retrievable when needed. Notification from BA PA remind passengers of documents that need to be uploaded
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My Flight
‘My Flight’ contains all of the passenger’s current flight details. Passengers can input any concerns or requirements they have, from disability to fear of flying. This allows BA PA to provide relevant information and notify the airline about passenger needs if extra assistance is needed. Passengers can also add multiple tickets if they are flying with others.
Value add
Provides actionable information about passenger concerns.
Creates a compassionate on-board atmosphere which reflects positively on the company.
Re-establishes the personal touch that was lost due to the pandemic.
Helps nurture the relationship between British Airways and its customers.
To British Airways
Eliminates uncertainty and empowers passengers to travel confidently.
Provides reliable and personalized support.
Gives passengers more control over their journey.
Re-establishes the personal touch that was lost due to the pandemic.
To Passengers
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provide assistance that extends beyond just inside the airport by including a map that assists with travel to and from the airport.
Future developments
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Include a ‘crowd control’ feature where the app could detect other passengers and direct passengers to less populated areas of the airport to improve social distancing and provide passengers with an extra level of control over their journey.
03
Incorporate an augmented reality function into our map so that users can easily see the path they need to take to get to certain locations in the airport through their phone.
