/Virgin_America_App
Following on the work done for Virgin America's new website, Work & Co was tasked with creating Virgin's new mobile app for iOS and Android.
The elegantly simple design was carried over from their site's identity, and the result was a straightforward native experience that uses the best of each of the platform's strengths.
While still using the native user interface for all interactivity and rendering, the app features a Lua-based internal middleware for most of the business logic. This allowed us to keep behavior consistent across platforms, and minimize complex code duplication efforts.
One thing I learned with this project is that working with airline data is more complicated than I initially imagined. User actions warrant more edge cases than it would seem at first glance. Because of that, this project was a massive undertaking, with about 8 software engineers working on it for most of its duration.
My role as a developer on the Android team was writing a good chunk of the code needed for the user interface, helping with the development and testing of the Lua middle layer, and helping with testing and automated deployment.
Date
2016
Agency
Client
Virgin America
Brand
Virgin America
Partner
Type
Mobile App
Platform
Android
Programming Languages
Java, Lua
Role
Developer, Android
Download (Android)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.virginamerica.app (dead; try web archive)
Download (iOS)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/virgin-america/id1106642940 (dead; try web archive)
More Info
https://www.virginamerica.com/mobile/ (dead; try web archive)
More Info
http://blog.virginamerica.com/blog/its-appening/ (dead; try web archive)
Awards
Media
Mentions
Simple, fast, fun: Build and Work & Co’s new app for Virgin America
“Each part of the user experience from booking to check-in is personalised: the app will display deals based on each customer’s travel history and remembers seating and cabin class preferences to make booking and check-in quicker.”
(Creative Review)
Building the travel app that makes flying fun again
“The beauty of this shared layer is that data sources, infrastructures, and backend business logic can be collectively updated across all platforms at once, removing the need for each app OS to be maintained independently. Furthermore, development for both iOS and Android occurred simultaneously, which reduced costs, sped up deployment, and reduced maintenance.”
(The Next Web)
Virgin America's New App Puts A Travel Agent In Your Pocket
“Many of the same best practices Work & Co developed for the website are at play in the mobile app, but are complemented by additional features that are better suited for an app. So while you can book a flight on both the app and the website, the app gives you extra layers of functionality in notifications, security, and ease.”
(Fast Co.Design)
Virgin America app arrives with Spotify integration
“We wanted an app that’s enjoyable to use, makes the booking process simple, intuitive and fast, and gets guests excited about their travel journey.”
(Macworld)
Virgin America's New App Lets You Book a Flight in 60 Seconds
“Long gone are the days when apps served as hollow portals for the airlines’ websites. Today, developers are building a new generation of airline apps from the ground up to be responsive to all screen sizes and operating systems, many with exclusive features.”
(Condé Nast Traveler)
Virgin America Gets an App (Finally)
(PCMag.com)
Virgin America's New Mobile App Is All About Speed
(Travel + Leisure)
Virgin America airlines app takes flight this summer, featuring booking and Spotify playlists
(Phone Arena)
A test flight of the Virgin America app
(The Flying Gecko)
Additional Credits
Design Partner
Joe Stewart
Technology Partner
Marcelo Eduardo
Technology Partner
Tiago Luchini
Strategy Director
Mohan Ramaswamy
Product Management
Michael Evans
Product Management
Scott Davis
Designer
Laura Ambrose
Designer
Joris Rigerl
Designer
Andrew McBride
Designer
Ryan Leitz
Designer
Paul Samples
Designer
Sang Kim
Quality Assurance
Neil Duggan
Quality Assurance
Aniket Sharma
Developer
Allen Gleyzer
Developer
Andre Carvalho
Developer
Carlos Conejo
Developer
Igor Oliveira
Developer
Jefferson Delfes
Developer
Nikolas Moya
Developer
Oliver Dore
Developer
Vitor Makoto
Developer
Vladmir Mitrovic