3 ms·

My mockup isn't perfect, and it wasn't intended to be. Your questions and requirements are all valid. Considering the current site acceptable is what bothers me

by dcurtis 17y ago

My mockup isn't perfect, and it wasn't intended to be. Your questions and requirements are all valid. Considering the current site acceptable is what bothers me.

myoung8 17y ago
I agree that AA.com is a terrible experience, but consider the decision to redesign the site from a business perspective: will making it an order of magnitude more usable increase AA's bottom line by more than some other project they are considering (e.g. opening a new destination)? I don't know the answer to that, but AA is run by business people so I would wager that the answer is "no," otherwise they would be doing it already. I think there are some intangible benefits to having a more usable website, but those are intrinsically difficult/impossible to measure so they don't factor into the business decisions. As a designer, I feel your pain, but the unfortunate reality of the situation is that AA is driven by their bottom line and a more usable website probably won't net them the greatest ROI right now.
- pg 17y ago
  GM is run by business people.
  - ryanwaggoner 17y ago
    I don't think he's arguing that business people don't make mistakes, just that they take a more holistic view of the various options to improve the bottom line, rather than just looking at one extremely narrow slice of a multi-billion-dollar multi-national company. I would rather have "business people" running GM than someone who thinks that redesigning the GM website will solve all their woes...or any of their woes.
    - pg 17y ago
      In GM's case the corresponding thing would not be to redesign their site but to redesign their dealer network, which would actually be a really good idea.
      - jaxn 17y ago
        Which brings up an important piece of information that we are missing. What percentage of AA's bookings come from their website, and what percentages come from travel sites like expedia or from travel agents. I know a large number of AA's customers are business travelers. If 10% of bookings come from the website and they are able to increase it's effectiveness 50%, that would only result in a 5% increase in sales.

by dcurtis 17y ago

My mockup isn't perfect, and it wasn't intended to be. Your questions and requirements are all valid. Considering the current site acceptable is what bothers me.

myoung8 17y ago

I agree that AA.com is a terrible experience, but consider the decision to redesign the site from a business perspective: will making it an order of magnitude more usable increase AA's bottom line by more than some other project they are considering (e.g. opening a new destination)? I don't know the answer to that, but AA is run by business people so I would wager that the answer is "no," otherwise they would be doing it already. I think there are some intangible benefits to having a more usable website, but those are intrinsically difficult/impossible to measure so they don't factor into the business decisions. As a designer, I feel your pain, but the unfortunate reality of the situation is that AA is driven by their bottom line and a more usable website probably won't net them the greatest ROI right now.

pg 17y ago
GM is run by business people.
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  I don't think he's arguing that business people don't make mistakes, just that they take a more holistic view of the various options to improve the bottom line, rather than just looking at one extremely narrow slice of a multi-billion-dollar multi-national company. I would rather have "business people" running GM than someone who thinks that redesigning the GM website will solve all their woes...or any of their woes.
  - pg 17y ago
    In GM's case the corresponding thing would not be to redesign their site but to redesign their dealer network, which would actually be a really good idea.
    - jaxn 17y ago
      Which brings up an important piece of information that we are missing. What percentage of AA's bookings come from their website, and what percentages come from travel sites like expedia or from travel agents. I know a large number of AA's customers are business travelers. If 10% of bookings come from the website and they are able to increase it's effectiveness 50%, that would only result in a 5% increase in sales.