As part of my Master’s Degree in Digital Marketing, I conducted a comprehensive UX and customer journey audit of the official website of SATENA, Colombia’s regional airline.

The objective of this academic project was to evaluate the website’s usability, heuristic compliance, and end-to-end customer journey, identifying friction points within the online flight booking process and proposing a UX-driven redesign to improve clarity, usability, and conversion.

Although this was not a commercial engagement, the project was highly recognized for its depth and quality, particularly in the analysis and redesign of the customer journey.

Complex and fragmented purchase flow

Inconsistencies with standard airline booking patterns

Poor application of usability heuristics

Friction between system logic and user mental models

Lack of visual hierarchy and clarity during key decision moments

Website usability and heuristic evaluation

Customer journey mapping (end-to-end)

Identification of UX pain points and friction areas

Redesign proposal focused on purchase experience optimization

Based on the customer journey map analysis, several stages of the booking process were identified as problematic due to:

Lack of a natural, intuitive dialogue between system and user

Violations of key usability heuristics, particularly:

Breaks in the expected flow that users follow when purchasing airline tickets online

These issues increased cognitive load and negatively affected the overall purchase experience.

To address the identified weaknesses, a UX-focused redesign was proposed, emphasizing:

A minimalist interface with improved visual hierarchy

Increased white space to enhance readability and focus

Clearer structure and progressive disclosure of information

Alignment with standard airline booking behaviors and user expectations

A more modern, visually appealing interface aimed at reducing friction during search and booking

Heuristic usability audit

Customer journey map analysis

UX pain point diagnosis

Conceptual website redesign proposal

Recommendations for purchase flow optimization

This project strengthened my ability to analyze digital experiences beyond surface-level design, focusing on how usability, heuristics, and customer expectations directly impact conversion.

It reinforced the importance of designing for user mental models, especially in high-intent environments such as e-commerce and travel booking, where even small usability breaks can lead to abandonment.