Grounded: Rebooking When the Flight Dies
Transportation
Advanced
2-3 hours
It is 11:40 pm. Your flight just got cancelled by push notification, and so did everyone else's. The airline app buries the rebooking button three menus deep, then tries to sell you a lounge pass on the way. Meanwhile 180 people are already sprinting for the single agent at the desk.
The brief:
Design a mobile rebooking flow that gets a stranded traveler onto the next viable itinerary before the gate crowd even forms a line.
Who you're designing for:
Marta, 41, just landed to a "Flight Cancelled" alert at 11:40 pm. One carry-on, phone at 18 percent, and a niece's wedding she has to reach by noon tomorrow. She has never rebooked a flight on her own before, and the desk line is already out the door.
Constraints:
From the cancellation alert to a confirmed new itinerary in 3 taps or fewer.
Show every viable option (next flights, alternate nearby airports, partner carriers) on one screen, one scroll maximum.
Each option states the true total delay in hours and any fare difference up front, before the tap. No hidden change fees, no "prices may vary."
One-handed and legible in harsh terminal lighting: 4.5:1 contrast minimum, primary action inside the thumb zone. My notes on designing accessible light and dark modes cover the contrast targets.
Bonus round:
Design the alert that fires before the airline officially cancels, when the delay signals already make it obvious, so Marta is rebooking while everyone else is still waiting to board.
What good looks like:
A first-time rebooker gets a confirmed seat without a phone call or a line.
The real tradeoff (earliest arrival vs. cost vs. a different airport) is readable in a single glance.
The flow stays calm and honest under stress: no upsells, no buried fees, no fake countdown pressure. Stress narrows attention to almost nothing, which is exactly the territory behavioral design is built for.
Suggested tools:
Figma for the screens, Figma prototyping or Protopie to prove the 3-tap path, Stark to check contrast, Maze to test whether real people find the exit under a clock, pen and paper for the option-comparison layout.
Brand vibes:
Flighty, for how proactive disruption alerts get framed and when they choose to fire.
Alaska Airlines app, for self-service rebooking that mostly respects your time.
Google Flights, for comparing many options fast without visual clutter.
Felipe's tip:
When someone is stranded, your interface is not the destination. The next flight is. Design the exit, not the experience.
Share it:
Post your attempt and tag flinbu so I can see it. If you liked building honest UI for systems that fail, this is the airborne cousin of Dead Air. #FlinbuChallenge #UXDesign #TravelUX