Pilot presentation
Delta Air Lines
Baggage Lookup for Airport Agents
- User problem
- Agents needed to locate bags without losing time in their core tasks. Curbside and check-in teams needed quick desktop lookup; below-wing teams needed usable mobile controls in gloves and variable weather.
- My responsibility
- Application UX and interface design for above-wing desktop and below-wing mobile use; Figma delivery to Engineering.
- Main constraint
- Fit quick lookup into check-in work, support gloves and variable weather below wing, and work without the proposed internal airport map.
- Project status
- Employee pilot deployed · April 2024
- Outcome
- Delivered the employee application designs; agents reported simpler tracking and developers found the Figma handoff straightforward.
Research
Design around two different working environments.
Above-wing agents at curbside and check-in needed to look up bags quickly and return to their other screens without disrupting passenger service.
Below-wing agents loading and moving bags needed a mobile experience that accounted for gloves, outdoor visibility, and variable weather.
- The same bag-lookup task required different interactions and information density on desktop and mobile.
Design decisions
Start with the identifier an agent has.
Above Wing and Below Wing agents did not always have the same identifier available. I designed search by Bag Tag ID, Permanent Bag Tag ID, or SkyMiles number so the lookup could start with the information at hand.
The selected identifier determines the input, while the map remains in view. The complete board retains the search, success, and error states.
Design decisions
Present the baggage system’s location information clearly.
The application located bags using information from the airline’s internal scans of baggage tags.
Mapping provided location context. The proposed internal airport map was not supplied, so the design had to work within the mapping information available.
Design decisions
Fit the experience into agents’ existing work.
Desktop lookup had to be quick enough for agents serving passengers to return to their other screens. On mobile, control placement and readable screens accounted for gloves and changing outdoor conditions.
I delivered the desktop and mobile Figma designs for development.
Validation
Deliver an application teams could implement and use.
The pilot deployed for employee testing in April 2024. Agents reported that the application made bags simpler to track, and managers responded positively to usability and visual design.
Developers found the designs straightforward to translate from Figma into the application. These are qualitative reports rather than measured task-time improvements.
Scope
Own the application scope clearly.
I joined to design the application. Hardware selection, tag lifecycle review, and earlier program decisions were outside my role. A possible consumer-facing direction was discussed, but the brief I delivered served airport employees.
Supporting evidence 6 original artifacts
Complete boards and additional screens behind the selected details above. Enlarge any artifact to inspect it at full size.
End-to-end flow
Interface components and states
Desktop map views
Mobile search, success, and error states
Pilot presentation — alternate source
