Product: Porter Airlines iOS & Android app

Role: Main Product Designer

Scale: 110K+ MAU · 4.8★ iOS · 4.5★ Android

Overview

Payments are a moment of truth. If users hesitate, get confused, or lose trust, the transaction fails.

This project started as a small request to add new payment methods. Over time, it became a full rethink of how the app communicates cost, balance, and success—turning a fragile checkout into a clearer, more scalable foundation.

"Just add more payment methods"

The original brief sounded straightforward: allow users to redeem travel credits and gift certificates. At the time, credit card was the only payment option in the app.

I audited the existing mobile and web payment flows and reviewed best-in-class e-commerce checkout experiences. Early concepts and a revised user flow quickly took shape and (almost) received verbal approval.

Reframing the problem

A 2024 framework migration paused many mobile initiatives, including this one. When the project resurfaced later that year—driven by the retirement of gift certificates and launch of gift cards—I revisited the earlier designs with fresh eyes.

Leveraging user research on web and discussing user's goals during checkout with the cross-functional teams, I realized clarity was the underlying issue.

When customers pay, they would ask:

• What is the actual total I’m paying?

• How much do I still owe after redemption?

• What payment options can cover that balance?

• Did my payment actually go through?

• How fast can I checkout on my phone?

I proposed expanding the scope—from adding more flexible payment options to:

• Restructuring information architecture and interaction patterns

• Making outstanding balances explicit

• Adding Apple Pay and Google Pay

• Redesigning success and error messaging in collaboration with Content

Shipping a clearer checkout experience

After multiple rounds of usability testing, accessibility testing, and stakeholder walkthroughs, the redesigned payment flow shipped in June 2025—Porter’s first major app release of the year.

Keeping accessibility top of mind, I made sure to:

• Review designs with our Digital Accessibility Specialist

• Add detailed annotations for developers and QA

• Validate with Fable testers

Impact & next steps

As of February 2026:

• Transaction completion rate increased from 76% to 87%.

• Cart abandonment rate of 9% is being monitored (no historic data before the release)

For comparison, the average for e-commerce apps is 47% transaction completion and 80% cart abandonment.

Leading metrics like transaction completion rate and cart abandonment rate as well as lagging indicators such as customer satisfaction and app store reviews are being closely monitored monthly for future improvement.

In the meantime, I have proposed further improvements for the checkout experience such as Paypal, saved credit card from phone, and saved payment info from user profile.