The first thing I noticed about the interface was that the home page is throwing a lot of information at the user at once. There are 3 main headings,"build your trip", "save on top travel deals" and "find your perfect trip". All of the headings are presented in a way that they all seem equally important. Each heading also has an enormous amount of sub-headings and links to click on. I find this main page uncomfortable to look at; it feels like Expedia is yelling at me. There are also a lot of ads... I feel like there should be a link that lets me skip this page.
Moving on, I decide to book a round trip flight from Rochester to Miami, because it's never too early to start thinking about spring break right? Anyway once I've locked into a certain part of the website and ignore the other two main headings, this part is fairly straightforward. Booking a round trip flight is selected by default, and choosing a date brings up a calendar that I found intuitive and easy to use. I select my departure and return date by clicking on the calendar dates, one ticket for an adult is selected by default, and the book flight button is right at the bottom of the frame. So far the ticket selection process has a pretty natural and intuitive flow.
After a brief loading screen that tells me Expedia is searching for flights, I'm brought to a screen that looks considerably different from the initial homepage. The navigation bar at the top looks the same, but information about my flight is located on a sidebar that wasn't present before and the bulk of the page is devoted to pricing information for the flights selected. This is a better layout than before, but the change of scenery is jarring.
All of the information on the page is devoted to departure flight information. The price before taxes and fees, the total cost, departure/arrival times and the airline are all listed in a fairly straightforward and regular presentation, along with a button to select any of the listed flights.
The next screen is a clone of the previous one, but with return flight information. Works for me.
The next screen is a confirmation screen, reviewing all of the previous information in one location. It is laid out much the same as the previous two pages, with advertisements for credit cards and hotel/rental car packages claiming the ability to save me money. I find this annoying but I understand Expedia is trying to sell their services.
Next, Expedia wants me to sign in. I don't have an account. Luckily there's a "continue as a guest" option. Let's go.
I'm starting to get impatient. The next step is a painfully long list of optional activities to add on to my bill. Everything from sight-seeing guides to "deals" on local attractions is presented to me. At the very bottom the most prominent link is a green "reprice" button that makes me think that I need to select one of the options and spend more money before I can get my tickets. At second glance I notice the "continue booking" link which is much less prominently displayed.
Now I'm asked to set up a voucher so that I can confirm my identity during the booking. There are fields for name, address, phone number, etc. but at this point I'm drawing the line, since I'm not really going to Miami anytime soon and Expedia has killed any curiosity I might have about their online booking process. The long lists, excessive forms and obnoxious suggestions that imply I don't know what I'm doing have taught me that I probably don't want to use this service to buy tickets for an already planned vacation. Maybe if I wanted to let Expedia plan my vacation for me I'd consider it.
On the plus side, the drawn out process of an ostensibly simple task such as buying plane tickets to a predetermined destination will probably make for a suitable task for the upcoming project.
-Kevin E.
Moving on, I decide to book a round trip flight from Rochester to Miami, because it's never too early to start thinking about spring break right? Anyway once I've locked into a certain part of the website and ignore the other two main headings, this part is fairly straightforward. Booking a round trip flight is selected by default, and choosing a date brings up a calendar that I found intuitive and easy to use. I select my departure and return date by clicking on the calendar dates, one ticket for an adult is selected by default, and the book flight button is right at the bottom of the frame. So far the ticket selection process has a pretty natural and intuitive flow.
After a brief loading screen that tells me Expedia is searching for flights, I'm brought to a screen that looks considerably different from the initial homepage. The navigation bar at the top looks the same, but information about my flight is located on a sidebar that wasn't present before and the bulk of the page is devoted to pricing information for the flights selected. This is a better layout than before, but the change of scenery is jarring.
All of the information on the page is devoted to departure flight information. The price before taxes and fees, the total cost, departure/arrival times and the airline are all listed in a fairly straightforward and regular presentation, along with a button to select any of the listed flights.
The next screen is a clone of the previous one, but with return flight information. Works for me.
The next screen is a confirmation screen, reviewing all of the previous information in one location. It is laid out much the same as the previous two pages, with advertisements for credit cards and hotel/rental car packages claiming the ability to save me money. I find this annoying but I understand Expedia is trying to sell their services.
Next, Expedia wants me to sign in. I don't have an account. Luckily there's a "continue as a guest" option. Let's go.
I'm starting to get impatient. The next step is a painfully long list of optional activities to add on to my bill. Everything from sight-seeing guides to "deals" on local attractions is presented to me. At the very bottom the most prominent link is a green "reprice" button that makes me think that I need to select one of the options and spend more money before I can get my tickets. At second glance I notice the "continue booking" link which is much less prominently displayed.
Now I'm asked to set up a voucher so that I can confirm my identity during the booking. There are fields for name, address, phone number, etc. but at this point I'm drawing the line, since I'm not really going to Miami anytime soon and Expedia has killed any curiosity I might have about their online booking process. The long lists, excessive forms and obnoxious suggestions that imply I don't know what I'm doing have taught me that I probably don't want to use this service to buy tickets for an already planned vacation. Maybe if I wanted to let Expedia plan my vacation for me I'd consider it.
On the plus side, the drawn out process of an ostensibly simple task such as buying plane tickets to a predetermined destination will probably make for a suitable task for the upcoming project.
-Kevin E.
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