A Fully Digital, Contactless Passenger Journey
Aeroméxico aimed to revolutionize the passenger experience by becoming the first airline in the region to offer a fully digitized journey. The objective was to use facial recognition as the sole authentication method for ticket-purchase, check-in, lounge access, and boarding. This would not only minimize physical contact—a critical new standard for travel—but also streamline each stage of the process to enhance passenger satisfaction and optimize airport operations.
As the design lead, my role was to define and guide the user experience for this ambitious proof of concept (POC).
Our Process
We adopted a collaborative and iterative methodology to tackle this complex challenge, ensuring the final concept was both user-centric and technologically viable. Key activities included:
- Strategy and Discovery: Facilitated Design Thinking workshops with Aeroméxico stakeholders to define the vision. This was followed by industry benchmarking and deep-dive user research to understand passenger expectations and pain points.
- Architecture and Design: Led the information architecture definition for the entire passenger journey. We then planned and executed iterative design sprints to create a seamless, multi-touchpoint experience.
- Systemization and Validation: Established a comprehensive design system and component library to ensure brand consistency and scalability for future phases. We conducted multiple usability testing sessions with prototypes to refine the flow.
- Implementation and POC: Executed and guided the technical implementation of the proof of concept, ensuring the design vision was translated accurately into a functional pilot.
Key Achievements
The proof of concept successfully validated the project’s core hypotheses and laid a strong foundation for a full-scale rollout.
- Successful Pilot and User Acceptance: All technology modules were successfully deployed in a “friends & family” pilot. The test demonstrated not only the technical feasibility of a fully biometric journey but also registered strong user acceptance and enthusiasm.
- Foundation for MVP and Future Growth: The project is currently in the MVP development phase, using insights from the POC to build the first public version. The solution is projected to reduce check-in and boarding times by 60%.
- Scalable Architecture: We designed a robust and flexible architecture that accommodates all planned future phases, ensuring the experience can evolve and expand seamlessly over time.