Redesigning the Southwest App Booking Experience
I led the product team through a complete redesign of the Southwest app’s shopping and booking experience—a full design and engineering overhaul built from the ground up.
The Scale
The Southwest app drives a significant portion of all digital flight shopping and ticketing, with many billions of dollars in annual ticket sales flowing through it. Creating a faster, more delightful experience at this scale truly matters.
Technical Transformation
This wasn’t just a visual refresh. We rebuilt the experience using:
- Heart Design System in Figma for consistent, beautiful UI
- Latest native architectures for iOS and Android
- Modern performance optimization for lightning-fast results
Measurable Results
We tested rigorously with Adobe Target across millions of visits:
- 43% faster shopping results than before
- Improved conversion rates across the funnel
- 11 person-years of wait time saved when scaled across traffic
Foundation for the Future
This new architecture sets the foundation for future improvements, including assigned seating support and other enhancements planned for the roadmap.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
I coordinated efforts across:
- Technology and Digital teams
- Marketing and Legal partners
- Strategic partners including Slalom
The team included product managers, designers, engineers, and analysts all working together to deliver something great for our customers.
Customer Impact
Every millisecond matters in mobile shopping. By making booking faster and more intuitive, we’re making travel easier for millions of customers who rely on the Southwest app to find and book their flights.
43% faster shopping results, equivalent to saving 11 person-years in wait time when scaled across our traffic.
