Most of us struggle through arse-backward websites because we have little choice, other than to give up and check out the competition. Dustin Curtis, a UI designer and frustrated American Airlines customer, took a different direction:

Dear American Airlines,

I redesigned your website’s front page, and I’d like to get your opinion.

I’m a user interface designer. I travel sometimes. Recently, I had the horrific displeasure of booking a flight on your website, aa.com. The experience was so bad that I vowed never to fly your airline again.

How did this happen? If I was running a company with the distinction and history of American Airlines, I would be embarrassed – no ashamed – to have a website with a customer experience as terrible as the one you have now. How does your CEO justify treating customers this way? Why does your board of directors approve of this? Your website is abusive to your customers, it is limiting your revenue possibilities, and it is permanently destroying the brand and image of your company in the mind of every visitor.

Curtis went ahead and provided AA with a redesigned website that didn’t look like a jumble sale in a threshing machine. In case you haven’t looked recently, this is what the current AA homepage looks like:

And this is what Curtis presented: (more…)