7 ms·

Increasing the design efficiency of airline boarding passes

36 points by cwan 17y ago

ben1040 17y ago
One thing I really liked about Northwest was that just before they were bought out, they had redesigned their boarding passes to print all your flights on one sheet. Seems Delta has chosen not to run with that, though. The old NW boarding cards had an easy to read table that showed your flight number, seat, and departure date/time for each connection, with the confirmation number, FF#, etc across the bottom. A lot easier to read, and less paperwork to fish out of my travel bag.
iamwil 17y ago
I didn't like that first design. Whatever typeface that is that is long and tall makes it hard to read. I was surprised (or maybe not so surprised) that none of the designs cut the length in half, like the Virgin America boarding tickets. When I flew Virgin for the first time, I found it pleasantly nice that I could fit the entire boarding pass in my pocket without it flapping out awkwardly and me worrying that the tab will come off. Design is how it works, no?
- donw 17y ago
  Oh god yes, this would be nice... my ticket ends up beaten all to hell by the time I finally get through security, mostly because I've got nowhere to put it but in my pocket. But more than ticket designs, airlines really need to streamline their operations. I just arrived back in California from Tokyo today, and about four hours of my travel time was spent negotiating with the airline, because they didn't believe that I actually had a ticket. Even though I bought the ticket by actually calling United and booking it, because I had some credit from a previous canceled trip. They had a reservation in their system for the correct flight, but no actual ticket, and this was apparently confusing enough to everybody involved that I was able to actually fly from NRT to SMF via SFO without having what amounted to an actual plane ticket. The above four hours doesn't include the two phone calls that it initially required to book the ticket; apparently, they've got a big problem with their outsourced call centers not actually issuing tickets to passengers. Or the fact that my return flight to Japan had the wrong date. Let's not also forget that every ticket change incurs a fee of $250, no matter what the cause, and that they've pulled all the in-seat entertainment systems, and offer no power ports in Economy. Nothing says 'take your money elsewhere' like a system that's inflexible, impossible to navigate, filled with opportunities for human error, and expensive.
  - swombat 17y ago
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
    - donw 17y ago
      I guess I'm just not happy because everything isn't as amazing as it could be. This is probably why I like programming and tinkering so much, because it gives me a chance to make the world around me a little bit more amazing than it was.
JacobAldridge 17y ago
I think there's also the option (and, it appears, space) for some ongoing marketing, even if it's just their website. Most boarding passes of mine end up as bookmarks in whatever I'm reading on the flight. I've come back to books years later and discovered I was reading that on my 2005 Sydney trip or 2006 Port Douglas holiday etc. (OT - Adds to my connection with the book!) Can't hurt to remember this document may not be single use - add extra brand value.
- donw 17y ago
  I thought I was the only person that did that...
  - stretchwithme 17y ago
    I use mine to clean my ears. So, by the end of the flight, its...completely ready to be your bookmark :-) Personally, I like the last one by Davin Yoon. It separates graphically according to takeoff, flight and landing.
sandGorgon 17y ago
My favorite of them all is the one by JJ at Graphicology (the one with a verbose text). I think a lot of the tickets are expensive (given the large size fonts and I'm not sure but large blocks of even black ink). The one with JJ is so, so easy to understand and maintains ink cost.
- bouncingsoul 17y ago
  I only skimmed, but that was also the one that stuck in my head. I think it's because I interact with boarding passes so infrequently that the data alone isn't enough for me to glean information – I need the explanation of what I'm looking at. E.g., I know (555) 492-2882 (in the U.S.) is a phone number without it being labeled because I use phones enough to learn the format. I don't immediately know that Zone 5 is a seating schedule or a gate, because I don't fly enough. I could see the design slowing down experienced fliers though (verbose UI tends to do that). It looks like the data is repeated in a just-the-facts style in the right column (maybe for that exact reason), but rather than repeating everything I think it'd be cool if the descriptive section was rearranged so the numbers all line up vertically or something for even easier scanning for those who know what the numbers mean. I'm really impressed with that design solution though, and how JJ approached it differently from everyone else.
  - callahad 17y ago
    I'd be more concerned about that design's impact on non-english speaking travelers.
    - sandGorgon 17y ago
      but would'nt that affect even the older tickets, because section title (e.g. Seat number, etc.) would also be in english. Given the popularity of smartphones and dictionaries, I think I can punch in that text and get back a reasonable understanding of what the ticket means - rather than a non-verbose ticket with English section markings and roman numerals (no - the entire world doesnt use Roman numerals)
  - 17y ago
duck 17y ago
This was on HN before... but I can't seem to find it. This was another design based off of it that I thought was interesting - http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-boarding-pass-redesign http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-boarding-p...
hkuo 17y ago
One advantage the original design has is its low cost of ink. Just look at SquareSpace's redesigns and those huge blocks of black, red, and blue. Just trying to eye it, I would estimate anywhere from an 800% to 1000% increase in ink. Multiply that with the enormous amount of tickets printed, and that's a lot of ink....and a lot of money. Yes, they are prettier, easier to use, but I'd be interested to see a design effort with this additional parameter of saving cost on ink or paper. Notice how, while Virgin America does seem to be printing a lot of colors on the backside of their tickets, their ticket size is about half the size of standard tickets, thus, saving money on paper stock. Edit: looks like some of the updates from other designers have addressed a more minimal use of ink. I think the Wallet Size one in particular wins for me. There's just no convenient place to carry standard-size tickets.
- smiler 17y ago
  Wallet size has no tear off to be collected by the gate agent so it's no good. Also wallet size is only good if you print your boarding pass at the airport - if you print at home, you don't really want a flimsy piece of paper that small - and you would then have to cut to size.
  - hkuo 17y ago
    Perhaps it is each airlines particular systems or operations that requires the torn tickets. Virgin America's tickets don't come with any part to tear. At boarding, they scan it in and hand it back to you. That would work for a wallet size as well. For people printing a pass, well, they're using a full sheet of paper anyways, so there could be a different design for printed tickets, the same way printed concert ticket designs are different than official tickets that are mailed to you. Also want to note that I missed the part about the thermal printing, which would nullify the ink cost issue.
smiler 17y ago
I've honestly never had a problem with a boarding pass - regardless of the format it's pretty easy to decipher. His boarding pass is flawed in a number of ways - It lists a time - is that the boarding time or time the flight is due to depart? (The one linked below has got this covered though) - The time is stated in 12 hour clock format. Every single time you find in an airport is listed in the 24h format - the quickest way to hunt for your flight in my experience on the boards is to first find the time as that's what they're ordered by - A lot of flights have 4 numbers - I'm not sure he could fit 4 in the tear off strip - These days, most people print their boarding pass at home. I'd be really annoyed if this is what I was presented with, it's a colossal waste of ink and if (as I do) you have B&W printer, the contrast is not great - His last design is frankly laughable. He shows a map of the States with JFK -> SEA. The JFK is on the left and SEA is on the right... doh - He has not included anywhere the airport terminal of either departure or destination airport. It's a good sanity check when you get to the airport (if you've printed your own boarding pass) and also it's a good sanity check when you arrive at the airport and you then need to get a connecting flight - you remember which terminal you're in and the need to change
- somebear 17y ago
  I totally agree with your criticism. His designs look nice, but it seems like that has been the focus rather than conveying the important information. Something like the missing terminal is an excellent example of this. Also, why have a map of the US? Would he have a map of the world for international flights? There would be an awful lot of white space where the font wouldn't show up. On all the trips I've taken the past few years I have checked in at home, and printed the boarding pass. The next time I will definitely use the 2D bar code on my cellphone. It's nice to have the information available, but I have that in the confirmation email, the boarding pass is (to me) just to prove that I'm allowed to get on the flight.
rabidgremlin2 17y ago
I worked on this for Air New Zealand, it downloads your flights to your phone and displays a barcode that can be scanned at the check-in kiosks and at the gate. iPhone App: http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-new-zealand-mpass/id304851207?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-new-zealand-mpass/id30485120... J2ME app: http://blog.rabidgremlin.com/2008/11/01/mpass-is-live/ http://blog.rabidgremlin.com/2008/11/01/mpass-is-live/

36 points by cwan 17y ago

One thing I really liked about Northwest was that just before they were bought out, they had redesigned their boarding passes to print all your flights on one sheet. Seems Delta has chosen not to run with that, though. The old NW boarding cards had an easy to read table that showed your flight number, seat, and departure date/time for each connection, with the confirmation number, FF#, etc across the bottom. A lot easier to read, and less paperwork to fish out of my travel bag.

iamwil 17y ago

I didn't like that first design. Whatever typeface that is that is long and tall makes it hard to read. I was surprised (or maybe not so surprised) that none of the designs cut the length in half, like the Virgin America boarding tickets. When I flew Virgin for the first time, I found it pleasantly nice that I could fit the entire boarding pass in my pocket without it flapping out awkwardly and me worrying that the tab will come off. Design is how it works, no?

donw 17y ago
Oh god yes, this would be nice... my ticket ends up beaten all to hell by the time I finally get through security, mostly because I've got nowhere to put it but in my pocket. But more than ticket designs, airlines really need to streamline their operations. I just arrived back in California from Tokyo today, and about four hours of my travel time was spent negotiating with the airline, because they didn't believe that I actually had a ticket. Even though I bought the ticket by actually calling United and booking it, because I had some credit from a previous canceled trip. They had a reservation in their system for the correct flight, but no actual ticket, and this was apparently confusing enough to everybody involved that I was able to actually fly from NRT to SMF via SFO without having what amounted to an actual plane ticket. The above four hours doesn't include the two phone calls that it initially required to book the ticket; apparently, they've got a big problem with their outsourced call centers not actually issuing tickets to passengers. Or the fact that my return flight to Japan had the wrong date. Let's not also forget that every ticket change incurs a fee of $250, no matter what the cause, and that they've pulled all the in-seat entertainment systems, and offer no power ports in Economy. Nothing says 'take your money elsewhere' like a system that's inflexible, impossible to navigate, filled with opportunities for human error, and expensive.
- swombat 17y ago
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
  - donw 17y ago
    I guess I'm just not happy because everything isn't as amazing as it could be. This is probably why I like programming and tinkering so much, because it gives me a chance to make the world around me a little bit more amazing than it was.

JacobAldridge 17y ago

I think there's also the option (and, it appears, space) for some ongoing marketing, even if it's just their website. Most boarding passes of mine end up as bookmarks in whatever I'm reading on the flight. I've come back to books years later and discovered I was reading that on my 2005 Sydney trip or 2006 Port Douglas holiday etc. (OT - Adds to my connection with the book!) Can't hurt to remember this document may not be single use - add extra brand value.

donw 17y ago
I thought I was the only person that did that...
- stretchwithme 17y ago
  I use mine to clean my ears. So, by the end of the flight, its...completely ready to be your bookmark :-) Personally, I like the last one by Davin Yoon. It separates graphically according to takeoff, flight and landing.

sandGorgon 17y ago

My favorite of them all is the one by JJ at Graphicology (the one with a verbose text). I think a lot of the tickets are expensive (given the large size fonts and I'm not sure but large blocks of even black ink). The one with JJ is so, so easy to understand and maintains ink cost.

bouncingsoul 17y ago
I only skimmed, but that was also the one that stuck in my head. I think it's because I interact with boarding passes so infrequently that the data alone isn't enough for me to glean information – I need the explanation of what I'm looking at. E.g., I know (555) 492-2882 (in the U.S.) is a phone number without it being labeled because I use phones enough to learn the format. I don't immediately know that Zone 5 is a seating schedule or a gate, because I don't fly enough. I could see the design slowing down experienced fliers though (verbose UI tends to do that). It looks like the data is repeated in a just-the-facts style in the right column (maybe for that exact reason), but rather than repeating everything I think it'd be cool if the descriptive section was rearranged so the numbers all line up vertically or something for even easier scanning for those who know what the numbers mean. I'm really impressed with that design solution though, and how JJ approached it differently from everyone else.
- callahad 17y ago
  I'd be more concerned about that design's impact on non-english speaking travelers.
  - sandGorgon 17y ago
    but would'nt that affect even the older tickets, because section title (e.g. Seat number, etc.) would also be in english. Given the popularity of smartphones and dictionaries, I think I can punch in that text and get back a reasonable understanding of what the ticket means - rather than a non-verbose ticket with English section markings and roman numerals (no - the entire world doesnt use Roman numerals)
- 17y ago

duck 17y ago

This was on HN before... but I can't seem to find it. This was another design based off of it that I thought was interesting - http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-boarding-pass-redesign http://blog.timoni.org/post/318322031/a-practical-boarding-p...

hkuo 17y ago

One advantage the original design has is its low cost of ink. Just look at SquareSpace's redesigns and those huge blocks of black, red, and blue. Just trying to eye it, I would estimate anywhere from an 800% to 1000% increase in ink. Multiply that with the enormous amount of tickets printed, and that's a lot of ink....and a lot of money. Yes, they are prettier, easier to use, but I'd be interested to see a design effort with this additional parameter of saving cost on ink or paper. Notice how, while Virgin America does seem to be printing a lot of colors on the backside of their tickets, their ticket size is about half the size of standard tickets, thus, saving money on paper stock. Edit: looks like some of the updates from other designers have addressed a more minimal use of ink. I think the Wallet Size one in particular wins for me. There's just no convenient place to carry standard-size tickets.

smiler 17y ago
Wallet size has no tear off to be collected by the gate agent so it's no good. Also wallet size is only good if you print your boarding pass at the airport - if you print at home, you don't really want a flimsy piece of paper that small - and you would then have to cut to size.
- hkuo 17y ago
  Perhaps it is each airlines particular systems or operations that requires the torn tickets. Virgin America's tickets don't come with any part to tear. At boarding, they scan it in and hand it back to you. That would work for a wallet size as well. For people printing a pass, well, they're using a full sheet of paper anyways, so there could be a different design for printed tickets, the same way printed concert ticket designs are different than official tickets that are mailed to you. Also want to note that I missed the part about the thermal printing, which would nullify the ink cost issue.

smiler 17y ago

I've honestly never had a problem with a boarding pass - regardless of the format it's pretty easy to decipher. His boarding pass is flawed in a number of ways - It lists a time - is that the boarding time or time the flight is due to depart? (The one linked below has got this covered though) - The time is stated in 12 hour clock format. Every single time you find in an airport is listed in the 24h format - the quickest way to hunt for your flight in my experience on the boards is to first find the time as that's what they're ordered by - A lot of flights have 4 numbers - I'm not sure he could fit 4 in the tear off strip - These days, most people print their boarding pass at home. I'd be really annoyed if this is what I was presented with, it's a colossal waste of ink and if (as I do) you have B&W printer, the contrast is not great - His last design is frankly laughable. He shows a map of the States with JFK -> SEA. The JFK is on the left and SEA is on the right... doh - He has not included anywhere the airport terminal of either departure or destination airport. It's a good sanity check when you get to the airport (if you've printed your own boarding pass) and also it's a good sanity check when you arrive at the airport and you then need to get a connecting flight - you remember which terminal you're in and the need to change

somebear 17y ago
I totally agree with your criticism. His designs look nice, but it seems like that has been the focus rather than conveying the important information. Something like the missing terminal is an excellent example of this. Also, why have a map of the US? Would he have a map of the world for international flights? There would be an awful lot of white space where the font wouldn't show up. On all the trips I've taken the past few years I have checked in at home, and printed the boarding pass. The next time I will definitely use the 2D bar code on my cellphone. It's nice to have the information available, but I have that in the confirmation email, the boarding pass is (to me) just to prove that I'm allowed to get on the flight.

rabidgremlin2 17y ago

I worked on this for Air New Zealand, it downloads your flights to your phone and displays a barcode that can be scanned at the check-in kiosks and at the gate. iPhone App: http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-new-zealand-mpass/id304851207?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/app/air-new-zealand-mpass/id30485120... J2ME app: http://blog.rabidgremlin.com/2008/11/01/mpass-is-live/ http://blog.rabidgremlin.com/2008/11/01/mpass-is-live/