KAYAK Baggage Sizer
With the introduction of new fare types from Bare Bones Basics to Extreme Comfort, airline amenities have been repriced and positioned as add-ons instead of part of what was previously considered normal services.
Baggage was the area most immediately impacted. Airlines tightened up on the weights and sizes of allowed baggage, and most moved to a model that only allowed for a carry-on handbag without having to pay extra.
At KAYAK we wanted to both inform our customers at the point of purchase, but also give them a quick way to see if their luggage would fit a particular airline’s requirements.
The solution: quick accesses to bag measurements with the help of augmented reality.
Apple had recently come out with more advanced measuring on their iOS.
Within a week we had a prototype for an augmented reality bag size scanner.
There are a lot of things to think about when developing an AR solution. The screen is just the start. AR involves both the user’s physical context and that of the environment around them.
In additional to physical content, each user has a different understanding (and in some cases no understanding) of a newer technology like AR. For many of our users, it was entirely new to them to use AR while planning travel. Appropriate onboarding and remaining flexible to user error would be critical.
We received excellent feedback and continued to improve the sizing algorithm to better fit flexibly shaped items like purses.
