Usability of Booking a Flight Ticket Using Airline Applications on Smartphones

In recent years, using online has emerged as the predominant method to book an airline ticket. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in the popularity of small-group travel in Japan, leading to an increasing number of smartphone users booking tickets. Consequently, the user-friendliness of airline applications profoundly impacts users' willingness to make purchases. This study aimed to visualize challenges and areas for improvement in airline ticket reservations focused on Japan Airlines and Thai Airways. Therefore, experimental investigations were conducted using these smartphone applications of two airlines. The experiments involved five participants who were tasked with navigating through the entire reservation process using the applications of the respective airlines. Subsequently, we gathered participants' impressions regarding their experience of booking a flight ticket with the retrospective protocol analysis as a qualitative method. The flow of the reservation process was primarily categorized into the following five segments: location selection, date selection, flight selection, and personal information input.The results from the experiment underscore the essential attributes of a user-friendly application for booking a flight ticket. These attributes include optimizing the presentation of information, effectively categorizing data, strategically placing buttons to minimize errors, and ensuring a consistent navigational experience. This study's outcomes highlight that enhancing the usability of applications requires deliberate attention to these factors. In conclusion, this study addresses the pressing concern of designing intuitive and user-friendly airline applications for booking a flight ticket. This study also effectively categorizes the reservation process into key stages by focusing on the applications of Japan Airlines and Thai Airways. This comprehensive analysis accentuates the importance of design considerations in promoting user satisfaction, enabling airlines to cater to the growing trend of online reservations and offer users a seamless experience for booking a flight ticket.