I began with a web site…
Traveling, especially internationally, is emblematic of how the user experience does not stop at the web site. Today, I was thrilled after easily finding the web check-in on the Air Canada site and successfully getting a window seat with a significant distance from the odor of the washrooms. My boarding pass pre-printed, I felt completely reassured that my time going through the mass of airport lines would be short and reasonably painless. Yay for their web team.
Suddenly, I was annoyed.
When I got to the airport international terminal, I immediately felt tricked, as they wanted Heathrow passengers to check in at the domestic terminal (an annoying walk away). Why didn’t I get a web notification of this when I checked in, I thought? Isn’t there some computer in their network that knows which kiosks are accepting what travelers? Just a minor glitch, keep moving, walk to the domestic terminal… keep smiling.
In the domestic terminal, things were looking up again. The lovely and cheerful web baggage drop off woman sorted me out with the appropriate luggage stickers and pointed me towards the belt.