
How United Onboards New Users (design) - ohjeez
http://www.useronboard.com/how-united-onboards-new-users/
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rhizome
I guess we're going to see this posted every day until United falls out of the
headlines?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=useronboard.com](https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=useronboard.com)

It's interesting that every account that has posted this story submits
multiple times a day.

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rcach001
It was painful though

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spraak
I was happy to find that after the 149 slides I only needed to click my
browser's back button once

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nebabyte
Yep, I was sure to check that a few slides in heheh.

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sfilargi
Oh the irony, criticising the mobile app about its design on a painful to use
on a mobile phone slide show.

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chrismealy
You should ask for a refund.

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tyingq
Not quite understanding this. The United app is also free.

And at least it has buttons that are large enough to touch with my finger
without encroaching into some other div causing an unexpected zoom.

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weberc2
I laughed and then tried to invite you on HN mobile... Joke's on us I guess.

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uiri
Curious why the user didn't click back instead of on the home button around
slide 70-75. It would have saved them about 50 slides or so and 10-15 minutes
of real time. They clearly saw the back button later around slide 120. The
micro-pessimization of looking at the account creation flow before attempting
to book a flight also seemed somewhat unnecessary.

While it is not an excuse for the poor design, I am not sure _why_ you would
search award travel if you don't have any points/miles to redeem nor even have
an account. They even leave the boxes unchecked by default. Clearly a better
UI would have process equally streamlined both for new users and for customers
with United miles/points to spend.

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FireBeyond
Right, along with complaining that 'Show Nearby Airports' doesn't work when
you've forbidden location services.

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icebraining
The question asked was "Allow United to access your location even when you are
not using the app?”. It's not clear that answering "no" would prevent the app
from accessing location when you _are_ using the app.

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FireBeyond
That's a failing of iOS, not the app - that is a system dialog that allows an
app to ask for foreground only location services, or background location
services (and this is the dialog presented, no customization allowed).

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antisthenes
This is exactly why whenever I have to deal with something more complicated
than Skype credits, I use a desktop.

Typing a lot of information in on a smartphone in your shitty app = waste of
my time and I'm not taking that risk again after dozens of tries over the
years.

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m-j-fox
I've seen worse. The CVS Android app. In order to enter my birthday (why do
you need my birthday CVS? You won't let me order alcohol in your app anyway.
For those who don't know, CVS is a popular chain of liquor stores where you
can also get prescriptions filled. Like a small, neighborhood Costco.) I had
to click a little back arrow month by month 40 years to get to when I was
born. Twice.

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paulddraper
If only you were born yesterday.

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asclepi
I'm a frequent flyer with status on United Airlines.

This "onboarding" demonstration is an eye-opener for me. While I didn't
experience any of the issues that this slideshow demonstrated, I now realize
that my experience and knowledge with flying United helped a ton to start
working with this app. On a related note, I also did not share the same
general resentment for what United did on the recent flight to Louisville. Not
because of lack of empathy, but again because of experience both good and bad,
and also because if I were to be the doctor, I would know my options for
getting to my destination in time. After a while, you start forgetting that
other people do not share that level of experience and knowledge, and to make
this relevant for Hacker News: this is an issue that affects me as a developer
too.

That being said and in United's defense, this app has incredibly powerful
functionality that's not mentioned at all here. This app allows you to scan
your passport and get it "pre-approved" for boarding an international flight,
something that can save you A LOT of time at the airport. Furthermore, in case
you are affected by "IRROPS" (delays and cancellation) the app can offer you
alternatives and rebook you immediately. And there's a lot of other helpful
stuff this app can do. Granted, it is still limited in what it can do, and
sometimes it can't help you out, but it is a huge timesaver if it does. In
short, the United iOS app can be an incredibly powerful travel companion, but
it still requires a user that is more educated about air travel than the
average Joe.

So as a developer, I do agree that the onboarding experience for inexperienced
users should improve and I will look at the onboarding process in the
applications that I write. But at the same time, as a frequent flyer, I hope
any changes do not constitute merely "dumbing things down" at the expense of
the powerful functionality where this app really shines today.

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dasil003
This is probably a result of having a huge team of disempowered developers,
each working on delivering a tiny slice of functionality, with a product owner
lacking any kind of organizational clout. Most likely the app team is beholden
to a much larger, powerful and entrenched backend division that dictates what
APIs they have available and when they can use them.

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marcell
Most likely this was outsourced to shop that doesn't care at all about
anything but checking off "requirements" in a contract.

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thorin_2
That sounds about right.

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Tepix
It's good that someone is pointing out these basic mistakes. It's really easy
to see which companies go the extra mile.

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bb101
Slide 123 is hilarious! It's exactly how I feel after I've lost pages of
information due to a badly-designed flow.

[http://www.useronboard.com/how-united-onboards-new-
users/?sl...](http://www.useronboard.com/how-united-onboards-new-
users/?slide=123)

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strictnein
I gave up ~35 slides in.

The app wants to notify you to give you updates on flights. It's a handy
feature. I've received Delta notifications 5-10 minutes before it's announced
at the gates.

The "Favorite" prefilled locations are United's two major hubs. A significant
amount of their travelers start out or end up at those two locations, so it is
saving a lot of users time.

The location and notification messages they complain about are Apple's
messages. United I'm sure would want to say something more informative.

This review is apparently based on a 10 year old's understanding of traveling
and tech.

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godot
I think the issue isn't that it's asking for notif permission at all, it's
that it's asking at the wrong time. Most mobile app developers and designers
should know that you wait till the moment before it's needed before asking the
user, which for this case would probably be _after_ you book a flight
successfully. This is for the good of both the customer and the company. The
customer actually knows what it's being used for, and the company successfully
establishes a communication method with the customer for more engagement. You
don't ask for notif permission right at the beginning. That's an amateur app
developer mistake.

If "Favorite" is United's favorite, maybe it should be renamed "Popular". The
term "Favorite" is usually used to indicate something the user set themselves.

As for location and notif permission prompts, if as an app developer you think
the message isn't informative, typically you explain in your words in a custom
UI prompt in your app (about why you want to send notifs) first, and when they
click yes, you make the system prompt. Two steps, yes, but higher allow rates
for the company, and more information for the customer. I think it's a good
practice.

I don't think the review is based on a 10 year old's understanding of
traveling and tech. I think it's quite valid overall.

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samuelhulick
I am 100% in agreement with you.

(I'm the person who made the slideshow)

:)

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tyingq
Is it your website as well? If so, the mobile experience needs a few tweaks.
Especially when viewed in portrait orientation.

The arrows to go back and forth are tiny, and very close to the slide window.
Which, when your finger overlaps onto, jumps around and zooms. I thought maybe
swiping would work, but it does not.

The top menu links are pretty tiny as well.

I thought it worth mentioning because the amount of work to fix it seems
pretty low.

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samuelhulick
Yes, it's my website and the mobile experience completely sucks. That's the
highest item on my to-do list for site updates.

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PretzelFisch
Well this brings back memories of sitting in their plane trying to become a
milageplus member. After filling in the whole form, I find that I cannot
submit because the app cannot use the airplanes wifi. I know my bad for
assuming that if united let you browse their webpage for flight status that
surely they would let their mobile app work over the wifi as well. Worse I
assumed when I got home, I would submit the form and be done but no, the
session timed out and all my data entry was lost.

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caseysoftware
I tried the United app last year. I was in Austin, about two hours before my
flight.

I signed in and expected my flight info. Nope. Instead, they asked for my
confirmation number. Remember, they know who I am and the current time. Why
else would I open the app?

I checked the "airport maps" page assuming it would show Austin. Granted, as
my home airport, I probably don't need a map but maybe my destination? Nope,
Cleveland.

Delete.

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yvsong
Given United Airlines' consistent poor service and arrogance for many years,
it's time to dismiss the company, re-accommodate and onboard their employees
(especially executive managers) to other businesses, perhaps new airlines
started by people like Richard Branson.

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joneholland
The app sucks, but apparently the critique is from someone who has never flown
before.

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icebraining
How so?

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chrisper
Because everyone who has flown knows you need to choose these basic things
when flying: Departure, Arrival, and two Departure Dates. So it's not that bad
if the app won't hold your hands and tells you that you need these basic
things.

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nunez
People who fly, like, once or twice per year (leisure travelers or travelers
visiting friends and relatives (VFR)), will not know these things. There are
many, many people who have never flown on a plane, too.

They make up a significant portion of total passenger volume.

Also, every other airline app _gets this right._

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sizzzzlerz
Funny. Although I didn't see the option to specify which hospital to take you
to after United has dragged you off the plane when the flight is overbooked.

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whatnotests
OK the UA iOS app definitely has problems.

I wonder how it stacks up against other airlines' apps?

How do the airlines' apps stack up against 3rd-party apps like Kayak?

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tyingq
They all suck. It's a hard space to get right, especially to get right across
4 different UIs (desktop, mobile web, Android, iOS). And, pieces of the
functionality across even more UIs, like the airport kiosks.

It's basically a thousand tiny cuts. For example, if the user selects an
outbound flight, then changes the return date to one day earlier...it may have
invalidated the pricing on the outbound flight.

Similar if they pick flights and then input a birthdate past a certain range.
They are now an "unaccompanied minor". Prices are different, and they can't be
on any connecting flights...nonstop or direct only.

Just two examples, as mentioned, there's a lot of this sort of complex
business process.

And, most invested in their backend services during the "desktop mostly era".
So a fair amount don't have reasonable services layers...the business rules
are locked up in some layer that isn't easily exposed to all 4 UIs. Most are
just now coming out of that barrier, piece by piece. Legacy is a bitch.

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nunez
There is a lot of talk on United's folly out there. This is definitely worth a
read.

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nebabyte
Surprised it made direct mention of the recent event.

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mschuster91
Probably A/B tested for maximum customer annoyance /s

