This was an audit, not a redesign. So execution here means the quality of thinking behind each finding - how precisely I identified the problem, why it matters for the business, and what a better path forward looks like. That's the work. That's what the client needed.

Landing Page

The page tries to do everything at once, which is exactly why it doesn't do any single thing well.

The top bar was the first place I paused. Logo, phone number, "more travel," "deals," "my account," and two separate account actions (sign in and join) - all compressed into a single horizontal strip. No visual hierarchy. Nothing guiding the eye toward a starting point. Nothing telling a new visitor where to begin.

The search module below made it worse. A promotional banner, offer tags, and multiple form fields all competing for space in the area where users needed one clear thing: a search input. The above-the-fold area was so visually dense that the primary action - searching for a flight - was genuinely hard to identify at a glance.

The finding I kept returning to: the navigation tabs weren't sticky. On any flight booking platform, search should stay accessible as users scroll. Expedia does this. MakeMyTrip does this. Hopper does this. When a user scrolls down to browse deals or explore destinations and then wants to modify their route, they have to scroll all the way back to the top. It's a small friction point - but it plays out across millions of sessions and compounds the overall effort the platform asks of its users.

Flight Search Page

The search summary bar at the top of this page held eight or more interactive elements in a single row - route, dates, traveler count, cabin class, fare alert toggle, promo badges, and a modify search button - all at roughly equal visual weight. The most important information (where you're flying and when) didn't stand out from the secondary items. Users had to actively work to read the bar, which is the opposite of what a navigation element should ask.

Immediately below that sat the "Get Fare Alert" banner. A large, blue, full-width block - positioned above the flight results. This is the most valuable real estate on the page, and it was occupied by a secondary promotional action. Users arrived here to see flights. That's the only job this page has. Placing a sign-up prompt in front of the results is a direct interrupt of the task flow.

The flight result cards were the deepest problem on this page. Airline name, times, duration, stops, price, CTA, baggage tags, guarantee banners, promotional badges - all packed into a tight horizontal layout at equal visual weight. When everything competes for attention, nothing actually gets it. Users trying to compare options across cards had no clear visual anchor to help them scan quickly.

Flight Details Page

This was the most severe page in the audit. The combination of issues here directly explains the drop-off happening right before checkout.

The fare upgrade comparison table came first - before the traveler details form. To compare fare tiers, a user had to process a dense multi-row, multi-column table across both departure and return flights simultaneously. Most users scrolled past it without engaging. But the cognitive load of encountering it still registered. The recommendation: move fare options to appear after traveler details, or collapse the table by default and let users expand on demand. Progressive disclosure, not front-loaded complexity.

After the fare table came the travel protection section - and this is where the dark pattern was most explicit. The opt-in button ("Yes, add travel protection") was styled more prominently than the skip option. The copy leaned on fear: bad weather, trip interruptions, unexpected disruptions. The opt-out path was deliberately quieter. That's not persuasion - it's pressure. And users notice, even when they can't name exactly why something felt uncomfortable.

Then came a testimonial block with stock imagery and promotional bullet points, placed directly between the upsell sections and the actual traveler form. By the time a user finally reached the form to enter their passenger details, they had already scrolled through a fare comparison table, a travel protection upsell, and a testimonial section. The form should be the centrepiece of this page. Instead, it felt buried and deprioritized.

Seat Selection Page

The seat map carried the most serious accessibility issues in the entire audit.

Touch targets were too small for reliable interaction on mobile. The seat types - preferred, standard, and unavailable — were differentiated by shades of blue that were too similar to tell apart without looking closely. There were no hover states, no ARIA cues for screen readers, and no pricing information in the legend. Users couldn't see how much a preferred seat would cost until they actually tapped on one.

The session timer running alongside the seat map made everything worse. Seat selection is a moment that requires thought - checking window versus aisle preferences, accounting for a travel companion, comparing prices. The timer turned that considered decision into a timed sprint. Anxiety at this stage of the funnel doesn't help conversion. It works directly against it.

Review and Booking Page

The final checkout page was the most crowded screen in the flow - which is exactly the wrong moment to crowd a user.

The payment form shared space with an Affirm buy-now-pay-later section, a third appearance of the travel protection upsell, a car rental cross-sell, and a promo code input field. Every single one of these elements competed with the primary task: entering payment details and confirming the booking.

The promo code field deserves its own mention because its effect on conversion is well-documented. A user who sees a promo code box will often pause, open a new tab to search for a coupon code, and simply not return. It is a self-inflicted drop-off, placed at the single most critical moment in the entire funnel.

The price breakdown didn't clearly separate the base fare, taxes, and service fees. Users arrived at the total without a clear understanding of what they were committing to. That final moment of ambiguity - right before a financial decision — is where trust collapses and bookings are abandoned.