MobileCCS

Following the launch of the Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB), we discovered that many flight attendants were still relying on third-party applications to access our platform. This raised concerns about security risks, user experience gaps, and missing features that led them to seek external solutions.

To address this, we conducted an in-depth analysis of third-party apps, identified key functionality gaps, and developed a secure, native mobile application to fully integrate with our platform. By leveraging existing responsive infrastructure and modern mobile technologies, we ensured that flight attendants had a seamless, secure, and efficient way to access EBB directly from their devices.

Team

• 3 - Designers
• 2 - Business Analysts
• 4 - Developers
• Leadership

My Objectives

• Identify why flight attendants used third-party applications.
• Analyze and decompile external apps to understand missing features.
• Develop a secure, native solution using existing responsive code.
• Overcome technical challenges in offline storage and distribution.
• Train flight attendants and replace third-party apps with native.

Despite providing a fully responsive web application, many flight attendants opted for third-party mobile apps instead of accessing EBB through our official channels.

Our challenge was to understand:

Which third-party apps were being used and why.

What functionalities these apps offered that we lacked.

How we could provide the same features natively and securely.

The biggest concern was security—these apps stored unencrypted personal and sensitive information, exposing them to potential breaches. Additionally, they optimized navigation, offered quick access to key pages, and provided minor performance tweaks that made them more appealing.

To gain a deeper understanding of third-party applications, I used my development expertise to decompile them, uncovering key backend functionalities that flight attendants found valuable:

Auto-login & Credential Storage – Third-party apps stored plaintext credentials, posing a major security risk.

Quick Links & Navigation Enhancements – Users had faster access to frequently used pages.

Crew Profiles & Personalization – Profile pictures helped flight attendants quickly recognize their crew.

Performance Optimizations – Small UI and caching tweaks improved overall responsiveness.

With these insights, we identified the essential features we needed to integrate while ensuring that security, usability, and performance were prioritized.

We developed a series of prototypes and tested them with the AFA-provided user group from our EBB testing phase, ensuring continuity in feedback. To gain broader insights, we also included key leadership members, including United’s CEO at the time, Oscar Munoz. This diverse group allowed us to gather valuable input from both end users and executives, ensuring the application met the needs of flight attendants, business stakeholders, and leadership. The feedback collected helped us refine usability, enhance functionality, and improve the overall experience, guiding the next phase of development.

Since our EBB platform was already responsive, we focused on translating it into a native mobile application using Cordova and Xamarin. This allowed us to reuse existing code, making development more efficient and scalable across both iOS and Android.

Key Technical Challenges & Solutions:

Secure Data Storage – Implemented encrypted credential storage for safer auto-login.

Native Gestures – Integrated iOS/Android-native gestures for an intuitive experience.

Offline Accessibility – Ensured data persistence for flight attendants operating with limited connectivity.

Internal Distribution – Addressed the challenge of deploying an internal app without public app store exposure.

Attending Apple’s WWDC 2019 was instrumental in solving the distribution challenge—direct discussions with Apple’s lead developers and designers helped us identify best practices for enterprise app deployment.

With the release of our official native app, we successfully eliminated the need for third-party applications. Flight attendants now had a secure, native, and free solution that provided the same enhanced features they had previously sought elsewhere.

Additionally, I played a key role in:

Creating marketing and training materials to drive adoption.

Participating in “BackStage,” United’s hands-on training program for all 20,000 flight attendants.

Ensuring a seamless transition by listening to user feedback and iterating on improvements.

By focusing on security, usability, and accessibility, we not only improved the flight attendant experience but also maintained the integrity of our platform—ensuring all crew operations remained safe, efficient, and fully integrated within United’s ecosystem.