lufthansa

for a Service center adapted to passenger’s needs

Challenge

As air travel becomes more accessible, airports become more crowded.

When journeys get disrupted, waiting lines get bigger and frustration increase for both travelers and operating staff.

Lufthansa asked us to define a simple and compelling service experience including the space, to both ease the pressure on the operating staff and to provide a faster, more engaging service for passengers.

My role

On this project, I was in charge of preparing and running research, preparing and facilitating a co-creative workshop with the client and designing the user experience.

Discover

We first spent 2 weeks focussing on getting insights through interviewing service agents and passengers and doing observation sessions at the airport.

I also spent time doing desk research exploring different types of ‘waiting management’ from other sectors, to understand what customers expect from a waiting experience.

I looked at aviation, hospitality and leisure services across the globe. 

Our main findings were :

• Loosing control has a deep emotional effect 

• Being taken care of fast & fairly reduces the feeling of lacking control

• Waiting without information makes anxiety rise and energy fall

• Emotions are contagious

Define

After gathering sufficient data from research we were able to define our main insight:

To deliver a truly good experience for everyone, an ecosystem needs to be fluid.

Design

At key intervals in the project we ran co-creation workshop sessions, with Lufthansa service agents in Frankfurt.

Using design thinking methods we encouraged business unit and operational unit for an intensive collaboration.

We then synthesized to a solution that we chose to prototype fast rather than making it look shiny. The goal was to get fast results on the core concepts.

Our solution was proposing among other things: a different space layout, visual support at self-service stations, food and drinks, and new role definition for Lufthansa agents.

Real life testing

We tested live at the Frankfurt airport at a space allowing us to switch back to normal operations if needed.

Our plan involved ‘hacking’ the final products.

We projected a waiting number system on the wall, built a ‘waiting area’ out of moveable walls and lounge chairs, and faked the form system with paper forms and people to run them to the agents who needed them.

Deliverables

• Detailed roles description & how they work

• Details and recommendations for improved waiting number system

• Details and recommendations for improved visual communication

• Details and recommendations for the new space design

• Providing a holistic view on the different touch points and interactions between passengers and services.