Hipmunk's user-centric results page
Hipmunk is a travel-planning app that allows users to search for and book flights, hotels, cars, and vacation packages. What makes this latecomer in the saturated field of online travel booking stand out from the competition is the personalized approach it takes to data interpretation and display.
Hipmunk organizes data into an interactive table that users can customize to their specifications. By allowing users to choose what is displayed when making an airfare purchasing decision, they can feel more confident about their choices and decide faster.
Why this is really good UX:
- As users scroll over the results table, tooltips explain what each symbol means and what each flight provides. The clearly laid-out information boosts users' confidence, thus increasing the probability that they'll book a flight through the site.
- Users can personalize the table using interactive filters right on the main page (rather than a filters tab). By sliding the symbols for the departing and landing airplanes, for example, users can filter the flights that best suit their desired travel time and see the results change in real time.
- One headache of modern travel booking is understanding what exactly is included in the price of a ticket. From aircraft type to baggage allowance and from available amenities to mileage earnings, a lot can change from airline to airline and from flight to flight. Rather than send users on a red-herring hunt on the different carrier websites, Hipmunk pulls all the relevant information into the final column of the table and lets users choose flights by reviewing what most matters to them (amenities, baggage, Wi-Fi, aircraft, or mileage).
- The page's functionality, moreover, doesn't get lost as users scroll deeper into the results. Understanding that users may want to add or remove filters based on the available results, Hipmunk pins the main panel to the top of the page so it's always available.
