WayFound: Helping travelers rebook faster.

Overview

Flight disruptions are urgent. Most airline apps weren't designed for urgency.

WayFound is a mobile app that guides travelers through rebooking by letting them declare what matters most before seeing a single option. The result is a recovery flow that feels manageable instead of overwhelming, and a path to rebooking that matches what the traveler actually needs.

I covered the full experience end-to-end, from research and information architecture through interaction design and prototyping.

Discovery

I started with competitive analysis because the problem wasn't abstract. Real travelers were already using real apps when disruptions happened.

I analyzed the disruption recovery flows of three major airline apps: United, Delta, and American. I focused on the moment a flight gets canceled and what the app does next. Every app handed travelers a list of alternatives and stepped back. No guidance. No prioritization. No acknowledgment that the person on the other end was already stressed.

That gap shaped everything downstream. If the existing pattern was “here are your options, good luck,” then the design problem wasn't about adding features. It was about restructuring the moment before the options appear.

Process

Early structural exploration of Priority Selection and Side-by-Side Comparison with low-fi wireframes.

I mapped the full recovery journey to identify where cognitive load peaks. The biggest drop-off point was the moment users saw a list of alternative flights with no guidance on how to evaluate them.

That led me to the priority-based recovery system. Before seeing any options, users declare what matters most: Original plan, Fastest, Cheapest, or Smoothest. One question. Four answers. Everything downstream gets filtered by that single choice.

I also had to carefully calibrate Skyie, WayFound's AI assistant. Too much automation and users feel like passengers in their own recovery. Too many clarifying questions and you've rebuilt the overwhelm. The answer was positioning Skyie as a collaborator rather than an agent: available throughout the flow, but never blocking the primary path.

Design Challenges

The Side-by-Side Comparison screen looked simple on the surface, four tabs, one table. In practice, it was the hardest screen in the whole flow to get right.

Early versions had Fastest, Cheapest, and Smoothest showing nearly identical data. If two different options led to the same outcome, the comparison lost its purpose. I had to go back and rebuild the underlying logic so each option represented a genuinely different tradeoff: Fastest costs more and requires effort, Cheapest is free but stressful, Smoothest costs a little more than Cheapest but removes friction entirely.

Color posed a similar problem. My first instinct was to give each option its own color to make them feel distinct. But WayFound already used color semantically for stress level (High, Medium, Low), so a second color system risked competing with the first. I simplified to one accent color that always means “this is your current selection,” regardless of which option is active. Restraint, again, over addition.

Getting there took a few wrong turns. More colors before fewer. Duplicate data before real differentiation. But each one taught me something about what the screen actually needed.

Solution

WayFound is built around five core screens.

• Disruption Alert. Direct notification. What happened, what's available, what to do next. No jargon. No airline-speak. Just the information a traveler needs to take the next step.
• Priority Selection. One question before any options appear. Establishes intent and gives users agency before decisions start. This is the moment WayFound earns the traveler's trust.
• Side-by-Side Comparison. Original, Fastest, Cheapest, and Smoothest in one view. Trade-offs are visible instead of held in memory. Users don't have to toggle between screens to compare.
• Confirmation. Rebooking confirmed. Flight details, hotel coverage, and next steps in one place. The traveler knows exactly where they stand.
• Skyie runs as a supporting layer throughout. She's available at any point in the flow but never blocks the primary path. For travelers who want guidance, she's there. For travelers who know what they want, she stays out of the way.

Accessibility

I treated stress as a design constraint, not an afterthought.

Plain language throughout means no airline jargon at the moment travelers are least equipped to decode it. High-contrast indicators keep status readable in bright airport environments. Large touch targets account for users who are moving, distracted, or typing with one hand. One action per screen keeps every step focused and prevents decision paralysis.

Every one of those decisions follows from the same principle: a traveler mid-disruption is already past their limit. The app should reduce that load, not add to it.

Reflection

This project challenged my instinct to solve complexity with more information. Under pressure, people don't need every option. They need the right options, presented in a way they can quickly process.

WayFound taught me that restraint is a design decision, not a gap. Choosing what not to show, when not to ask, and how much to hand off to an AI assistant without losing the user's sense of control. That's where the real design work lives.

What's Next

Usability testing under realistic conditions. Calm lab testing won't surface the same friction as a real disruption scenario. I'd want to test with travelers in actual airports or simulated time-pressure environments.

• Do travelers want to set priorities before seeing options?
• Does Skyie's tone feel appropriate across different disruption scenarios?
• How might WayFound support the full recovery journey beyond flights?