No hassle. Just fly.

Airline travel -- especially these days -- requires people follow a bunch of rules. They are assigned seats on their tickets. They are told how many bags they can carry. Changes in their planned behavior accrue a fee, no matter how valid the reason or how easy it is to accommodate the traveler without compromising the safety of the airplane, the airport, or the other travelers. That's why it's so nice to fly on an airline that eases up on the rules a little bit, giving people a little less to worry about remembering when they have to fly somewhere.

It's hard enough to remember the litany of procedures required to get a boarding pass, check baggage (though the automated kiosks help) and find the right gate. But since 9/11, Richard Reid, and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, no shoe is left on the feet of the herding travelers, and no bottle of shampoo is permitted on through the strict scrutiny and watchful eye of airport screeners.

I've lived in Texas for over 11 years now. I can't believe that yesterday is the first time I ever flew on Southwest. On the two flights I took yesterday, I discovered that:

1. There was no assigned seating. This allowed me to sit in the front row on the flight to Austin and in the back row on the flight back. I didn't have to keep checking the rows and figure out why there was an A, B, C, E, and F seats, but no D. I simply found an open seat and sat down.
   
2. Changing flights was no problem. And there was no charge. They had seats available on an earlier flights, so they just changed our tickets. No $100 or even a $25 surcharge. They just did it. It took just a few minutes and we were on our way.

Of course, we still had to go through security, and yes, that's still a pain in the butt. Even on a day trip, I still had to remember to:

1. Take my computer out of the bag.
2. Remove my shoes and place them in the bin.
3. Discard my drinks before entering.
4. Remove my watch, keys, etc. (Should I remove my wedding ring, too? Oh here, just take it.) from my pocket and put it in the round bowl.
5. Even when removing everything in my pocket, I must remember to put the boarding pass, which was just checked like half a dozen times, back in my pocket so that it can be checked again when I go through the metal detector.

I appreciate the effort behind it. Though I never supported the government's takeover of airport screening, 9/11 is still too fresh in my memory to dismiss the fear that drives it to this day.

Still, it's all the more reason to appreciate it when an airline reduces the number of rules you have to remember and the hassles you have to endure when circumstances demand you fly.

Thanks, Southwest.

The usability connection
The same principle we laud here is also applicable to designing a website or any computer interface. That is, the less we have to remember about how to use something and the more we simply recognize how to use it by virtue of its design, the easier it is to use. All else being equal, recognition is better than recall.

In the Southwest example, we recognize that a seat is for sitting. Allowing people to simply sit is better than  forcing them to remember how to find a specific seat in a specific row in a specific place.

Likewise, when building a website, a we recognize that an underlined word means a hyperlink, and we should not underline words online that cannot be clicked. Nor should we force users to remember that, though much of the rest of the Web shows a word is a hyperlink by underlining it, the site we built uses bold text, or else hides the hyperlink altogether.

Some designers scoff at conventions like these because they think they are anachronisms. They can't make links as pretty if they must underline them. However, on most websites, beauty is a secondary element of function, and any website that cannot be used in a way that adds value to the users (note: not "potentially add value if they take the time to figure it out") may as well not even be built. - Cam Beck

Image uploaded by Stephen Witherden. 

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Cam,

Man, I still haven't flown Southwest. Can't say why really. I think when I check for lowest fares, another airline is always cheaper. And in exchange for saving $20, I get to be miserable to and from my destination. Not a great tradeoff. Next flight, I'm checking out Southwest. Thanks for the tip.