Air Asia

Overview

AirAsia MOVE is a travel booking app for flights, hotels, and experiences. After reviewing user feedback and app behaviour patterns, I identified three major experience gaps affecting usability and booking confidence.

Defining the Problem

The Problem

Struggle to book multiple products (flight, hotel, activities) easily in one go.
Frustration over final pricing — hidden fees and unclear taxes
Lack of smart recommendations for personalisation and planning (optional scope)

Problem Statement

How might we enhance users’ booking experience with a trip planner app so that they can make multiple bookings easily?

Research Objectives

Discover user needs and priorities as they make bookings for flights and hotels
Evaluate how users perceive the current app usability
Understand how users want their purchase information to be displayed on the home page

User Research & Personas

9 user interviews (aged 27–53)
64 survey responses (majority aged 31–40)

Research Methodology

Affinity Map

Choosing a Flight Booking App

Purchase Journey

Post Purchase/Trip Planner

🔍 Key Insights from User Research

Choosing a Flight Booking App

Wants clear final pricing (concerned about hidden fees)
Looks for price drops before/after booking
Values flight timing and schedule reliability

Purchase Journey

Users don’t complete bookings in one go; they return to search and compare.
Group travellers prioritise features like priority boarding, extra baggage options, and child-friendly amenities
Finds transit and labelling information unclear

Post Purchase/Trip Planner

Difficulty coordinating group schedules
Wants real-time flight updates
Solo travelers seek location-based recommendations
Majority shares trip details with others via whatsapp

User Personas

Project Goals

1. Retention

Increase post-sale activity (e.g., Trip Planner usage)
Increase interactions within the app to better understand user behaviour

2. Acquisition

Increase new user sign-ups to the AirAsia app (including non-customers)

3. Sales

Increase add-on sales beyond flights (e.g., hotels, experiences) to boost customer lifetime value
Increase frequency of bookings via AirAsia

Design Recommendations

#1 Optimise App Recommendations for Tony and Alicia

For Tony (Family Traveller)

Highlight child-friendly amenities/policies, extra baggage and priority boarding
“That would be great for my family.”

Before

After

For Alicia (Solo Traveller)

(New User Flow) Emphasise local experiences and nearby attractions in hotel listings.
“Now I have more information to plan my trips.”

Hotel Listing Screen

Map View (Hotels)

#2 Facilitate Better Price & Flight Comparison

Problem: Users struggled to spot the best travel deals and compare options quickly.
Design Solution:

“Low Fare” labels, triangle markers in calendar view
High-contrast calendar button to boost visibility and clicks
Introduced price trend tags (e.g., “Lowest fare in 2 weeks”) to provide context around pricing shifts

Before

After

#3 Manage Price Expectations

Problem: How might we clarify pricing while highlighting attractive options
Design Solution:

Redesigned UI of trip planner to improve content hierarchy and price visibility
Included urgency cues (e.g., “Only 3 seats left”) to support booking decisions
Differentiated primary and secondary actions (e.g., “Book Now” vs. “Browse Hotels”) to guide user flow more clearly
Used “From” pricing to set expectations that fares may increase

Before

After

#4 Enhance Discovery Opportunities in the app to fulfill users’ need for extra search

Problem: Exploratory users often scroll for inspiration. To enhance this experience, we restructured the discovery homepage with familiar e-commerce-inspired UI patterns.
Design Solution:

Visual label tags on images: e.g., “Popular Destination”, “Low Fare”, to support visual skimming
Cards with social proof: Included ratings and quantity sold for trust signals
Introduced price trend tags (e.g., “Lowest fare in 2 weeks”) to provide context around pricing shifts
GIFs over static images: To make listings feel dynamic and engaging
Refined date formatting: Used colored UI elements for days (e.g., red for weekends, blue for weekdays) to aid readability
“Now the listings feel more alive and easier to browse through.”

Before

After

#5 Help Users Access and View Bookings Details Easily

Problem: Users couldn’t quickly distinguish between saved trips and completed bookings, and key booking information was not intuitive to find
Design Solution:

Separated saved trips from completed bookings using clearer tabs (“Trip List” and “Next Trip”)
Added real-time status messages to notify users of flight delays or changes
Highlight important details: flight times, IDs, baggage
“Now I can easily find what I’ve booked, even when plans change.”

Before

After

#6 Make Trip Planner Useful and Relevant

Problem: The cart page felt redundant, and users wanted smarter, more actionable trip planning.
Design Solution:

Replaced the cart view with suggestions and “Places to visit” which pulls from recent views, and flight booking location
Auto-generated itineraries from newly confirmed bookings
Enabled external booking sync (e.g., via Gmail) for a complete trip overview
“Now I can plan my trip without starting from scratch — everything I booked is already here.”

Before

After

Outcomes & Impact

Design recommendations were handed over to the AirAsia team, who appreciated the improved clarity, usability, and alignment with user needs.

Potential Impact

While final implementation decisions are ongoing, the redesign is expected to:

Improve booking clarity and reduce cart abandonment
Personalise trip planning for different traveller types
Highlight promotions and discovery content more intuitively