meet Melissa, a 40-year-old mother who frequently flies internationally with her daughter. melissa values an easy, cost-effective searching and booking experience. her pain points include the overwhelming number of options with insufficient detail and unexpected price increases.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

“Easy and cost-effective searching & booking are the first steps to a happy vacation.”

PERSONA

Melissa is a 40-year-old mother of an 8-year-old daughter. She works a 9-to-5 job as an accountant and lives in a modern apartment with her daughter. Together, they enjoy playing imaginative games where they pretend to travel the world. Melissa typically flies with her daughter during the holidays, with most of their trips being international.

cares/loves

  • To find good deals

  • A seamless searching and booking

  • Finding travel packages

fears / frustrates

  • Overwhelming amount of options with too little information

  • Too many factors affecting her choice (price, duration, etc…)

  • Ending up much higher prices that she anticipated while booking

For the American Airlines case study, we utilized the empathy map tool to understand Melissa’s experiences, needs, and frustrations during her travel planning and booking process. The empathy map helps highlight her emotions, thoughts, actions, and goals, which in turn guides the design decisions.

EMPATHY MAP

The feature roadmap in this case study was designed to help organize the essential elements of the American Airlines user experience. By categorizing features based on priority (Must-Have, Nice to Have, Surprising, Delightful, Can Come Later), it was possible to align product development with user needs, competitive research, and technology feasibility.

This structured approach allowed for clear visualization of both immediate and long-term goals, ensuring that user pain points and desires were addressed efficiently. for example, features such as Login, Search Bar, and Check-in were identified as crucial, while options like Personal Travel Recommendations and Cruise Packages were delightful enhancements for future iterations.

feature road map