progress bar
đŸ›«

United Airlines

I am the lead designer for United’s “Shopping” and “Revenue” experiences across desktop and mobile app. I successfully introduced new forms of payment that accounted for an estimated $250 million in revenues. I also led the initiative to overhaul “Reshop” (the process where customers can change their current flights). Lastly, I led the design for a new benefit initiative with our partner JP Morgan Chase.

The role:

Schedule

Dec 2022 - present

Medal

Lead Revenue designer

Person

Senior Designer

Ideas

+70 projects / features

Contributions:

Stock

$250 million revenue

Stock

6% of all payments*

Stock

+20% convert at checkout**

Stock

+7% travel credits applied

gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card
gift card

Above are graphics from the Digital Gift Card
project that I led. Releasing late 2025.

coin

Money + Miles

I led the implementation of a new form of payment that generated
approximately $250 million in revenue per year.

laptop laptop
caution

Challenge

The challenge faced by customers is that they couldn’t combine money (like $U.S.) and miles to pay for flights.
Shopping for flights using miles has strict miles balance criteria preventing many customers from ever using their miles.

bubble chat bubble chat bubble chat bubble chat

Original shop flow

Once customers choose money or miles, they are committed to viewing fares and
paying for any trip add-ons with that form of payment only, with no option to change.

Flight search result

Original flight search screen

To the left is the original flight search results screen (2023). Near the top of the screen, you can see where customers can toggle between Money and Miles

Updated flight search screen and checkout screen

After analysis and careful negotiation with stakeholders, we were able to launch a new product that addresses the fundamental payment issue faced by customers. With this new solution customers can easily toggle between Money+Miles (M+M) and Money, at any stage. Customer can also manually apply the specific amount of miles they want to apply.

check

Solution

Allow for a third payment avenue, “Money + Miles”. This new workstream is perfect for those customers who want to take
advantage of their current miles balance, even if low, customers can also manually adjust the amount of miles applied.

Updated shop flow

Now customers can switch between money and money & miles
(M+M) at multiple stages throughought the shopping flow.

Conclusion: Pay form dominance

By allowing customers to toggle on “Money + Miles,” flight search results prices can be discounted by the maximum amount of miles that customers have. This helps promote customers to buy more flights and to use their miles more frequently. Finally, on the checkout screen, the customer can fine-tune the exact amount of miles they want to apply to the total price.

Pay form
success

Success!

After 6 months, Money + Miles as a form of payment accounted for 6% of all customer payments across all platforms (est. $250 million per year). This is more than double the number of flight purchases made with Apple Pay and Alipay, combined.

narrow

Change flights

I conceptualized and implemented an industry leading way for customers to change their flights, allowing for unparalleled flexibility across all of United’s platforms.

In 2024 United Airlines invested $225 million into technology and digital innovations, one focus area was making flights more “flexible”. The “More flexibility” strategy is a key differentiator for United Airlines brand, making the “Change flights” flow a key cornerstone of that strategy.

Chat bubble Change flight info
Book now
caution

Challenge

Customers are having a hard time changing their reservations from their mobile app.

User testing / Analysis

Customers found the original change flights flow (below) to be limiting and was
driving calls to the United service center.

Original customer change flight flow

Some customers were confused with the flight blocks and were not sure which flight is which.

Original customer change flight flow

Customers were confused on how to change the travelers on their current ticket.

Original customer change flight flow

Customers were confused on the pricing and which fare / cabin type they had selected.

Original customer change flight flow
Original customer change flight flow

Some customers would back track to check what their original flights were.

Prototype 1: Low fidelity wireframe

User test 1

The structured layout made it easy for testers to navigate easily and pick what they would like to change.​

User test 1

Testers said they were now sure that they were going to edit the return flight specifically.​ The math was simple and everyone understood the exact amount they owed.

User test 1

Added traditional seat-map, to prevent confusion when booking new flights

User test 1
User test 1

Testers were sure about the changes to the date and time of the flight and the price difference.​

Prototype 2: Mid fidelity

User test 2

Testers loved the conversational style “hand-holding” throughout the process.​

User test 2

Having the traveler section above the flights tested better.

User test 2

So far so good!

User test 2

Testers liked having the changes highlighted in the block, while still having access to their original flights.

User test 2

Very positive response by testers on this iteration.

check

Solution

Given the right amount of guidance and support testers felt confident to make self-guided changes to their existing flights.

Final prototype: High fidelity

High Fidelity screen

In 2024 United Airlines invested $225 million into technology and digital innovations, one focus area was making flights more “flexible”. The “More flexibility” strategy is a key differentiator for United Airlines brand, making the “Change flights” flow a key cornerstone of that strategy.

High Fidelity Details
Final
success

Success!

By user testing different prototypes, we were able to increase our key success metics by 18%.

Conclusion

By over-communicating the actions customers can take and what their next steps in the workflow should be, we were able to remove the perceived ‘risk’ customers felt while making such a big decision like changing their flights.

Conclusion

Get in touch

You can reach me at john.s.f.lloyd@gmail.com
or write me below and I'll get back to you.