Accessibility-First Redesign: How an Airline App Cut Task Time by 18%

Design · 4 min read

The incumbent airline app had grown feature-heavy over years, and key tasks like check-in and retrieving boarding passes required deep navigation. A cross-functional audit with accessibility specialists, screen-reader users, and customer support logs identified pain points: inconsistent heading structure, tiny hit targets, and modal dialogs that broke voiceover flow. The team committed to an accessibility-first redesign rather than patching issues piecemeal.

Design goals included simplifying task flows to three taps or fewer, enforcing consistent heading semantics, and increasing touch targets to 44–48px for critical actions. UX writers rewrote microcopy to be direct and scannable, avoiding airport jargon. Engineers introduced semantic ARIA roles and reduced reliance on custom controls that previously conflicted with assistive tech.

Post-launch metrics showed an 18% reduction in median time-to-complete check-in and a 12% drop in check-in support calls. Usability testing with participants who use screen readers moved from 58% task success pre-launch to 92% after. The team also observed collateral benefits: general users reported the flow felt simpler and faster, and cognitive-load measures improved in lab sessions.

The project reinforced that accessibility improvements often align with broader UX gains. Prioritizing semantics, clear information architecture, and generous touch targets made the app more resilient and lowered operational costs — a business- and user-centric win.