United Airlines has redesigned its mobile app so
that it is easier for people with visual disabilities to use.
Color contrast has been increased, more space
added between graphics and the information provided
better integrated with screen reader technologies like VoiceOver
that are built into most handheld devices and read aloud on-screen
messages and notifications.
By restructuring the way the information is
organized on the app, screen readers are better able to convert
text to audio in the proper, logical sequence, allowing customers
to better understand and navigate the app.
"The parts of the travel experience that we all
take for granted like checking luggage, getting your flight status
and accessing a boarding pass can still be a challenge for someone
with a visual disability," said Linda Jojo, Executive Vice
President for Technology and Chief Digital Officer, United. "These
new accessibility enhancements are part of our continuing
commitment to level the playing field, unlock all the customer
benefits of our app and give people with disabilities more
independence while traveling."
Visually impaired customers will notice that the
changes make it easier to manage all aspects of day-of travel,
including check-in, viewing reservation details and flight status,
bag tracking and more.
Ray Campbell, a member of United's digital
team who's visually impaired and sits on the board of the American
Council of the Blind, played a key role in helping redesign the
app, and walks through how these changes make flying easier for
him in this video.
"Optimizing mobile apps for tools such as
VoiceOver and TalkBack has been a game changer, allowing people
with visual disabilities to fully utilize smartphone technology in
their daily lives," said Campbell. "It's just as important for
someone with a visual disability to easily access day-of-travel
information and features as for any other customer. By improving
the accessibility of the United app, we are truly living out
United's mission of caring for all customers."
Beyond the accessibility changes, the United
digital team enhanced the current offering with the following
updates:
- For MileagePlus members, the app
now features a refreshed account experience for members to easily
check balances, track Premier progress, explore MileagePlus
benefits, access past activity and more, all in one place.
- The airline is also expanding a popular feature
previously only accessible to MileagePlus members. Now, all 37
million customers who have the United app will see a
contextualized home screen starting 48 hours before their flight
which provides dynamic updates based on where a customer is in
their travel journey. For example, customers can see the boarding
status of their flight on their homescreen, access personal device
entertainment onboard with one click, find a link to a map with
gate-to-gate directions for connecting flights and click a quick
access button to track any checked bags upon arrival.
- United made slight tweaks to navigation based on
customer feedback to make the app more intuitive, including making
the bottom navigation persistent throughout the app. Another
example is the "More" menu, which was reorganized and now contains
the "Inbox" feature, which includes timely messages about boarding
announcements, gate changes and other travel updates.
- Customers will notice a new color palette that's
consistent with the refreshed branding the airline debuted in
2019. United's digital team also made subtle design adjustments to
make things more consistent and easier to find, like always using
a purple bar to highlight the main call-to-action on a page and
ensuring alerts and flight status icons appear the same way in
every page on the app.
- All of these changes are underpinned by a new
back-end platform, which will ultimately make the app faster and
more responsive.
The redesigned app is available for download today
for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices (as an iPhone app) and
for Android devices.
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