JPMorgan Chase · ORXe 3.0 · Flights
ORXe is JPMorgan Chase’s travel rewards platform. Banks offer it to their card members, who use it to book trips with the points they earn. Version 3.0 rebuilt it so new bank clients could launch without costly custom work.
Problem
Members abandoned searches, missed a hidden points balance and doubted the price they’d pay.
What we did
Three usability studies, a competitor benchmark and a persona, distilled into four evidence-backed problems.
Solution
Search ranked for real travel, points shown as money everywhere, and a points calculator inside the cart.
Reported by the team after the 3.0 release. They reflect the release as a whole, not any single change.
What the rebuild had to achieve
Three kinds of research, each answering a different question: who are our members, where does 2.0 fail them, and what do they expect from any travel site?
User interviews
We spoke with card members about how they earn and spend points, and how they book trips today. What they told us became our persona and the principle behind every screen.
See the interview research (Google Sheets, opens in a new tab)
Persona · Existing card member
32 · California · Books 1–2 trips a year with points
I save points all year, but every time I book I have to work the site out again, and I still can’t tell what my points are worth.
Every screen had to explain itself, and points had to read as money the moment they appeared.The design principle that came out of the persona
Usability studies
We watched members use the platform we were replacing, end to end and in focused tests on destination search and payment. These sessions gave us the evidence behind every problem below.
Search, flights, hotels and checkout. 9 on desktop, 6 on mobile.
Destination search from recorded sessions, and points and payment on mobile.
Expedia, Priceline, Amex, Delta and United, across 17 booking capabilities.
Participants were heavy card spenders ($30,000+ a year) who hold a travel rewards card and redeemed points in the past 3 months: 8 women aged 26–54 and 7 men aged 26–45. These are qualitative signals of where people struggle, not measures of how often.
Problem 1 High risk
Auto-suggest matched text, not intent. Typing “austr” offered Green Bay and Austin before any Australian airport, and small airports ranked above major hubs.
The study’s verdict: “We lose the customer.”
Problem 2
The balance sat inside the hamburger menu. Participants said knowing it upfront decides which flight they choose, and that they use as many points as they have.
Problem 3
Round trips showed both legs in one card with one price. The word “From” before a points price made people wonder what was coming next.
Problem 4
Choosing points, cash or a mix meant leaving the itinerary for a separate page of reward products with internal names.
Label on the old page: “AIR REWARD VARIABLE - BASE R”.
Competitor analysis
We compared how five booking platforms and airlines handle 17 search and booking capabilities, to find the ones our members would expect from any travel site.
See the competitor analysis (Google Sheets, opens in a new tab)Takeaway. Choosing the departure and return separately, comparing fares side by side and picking seats are table stakes. ORXe 2.0 fell short on several, starting with flight-by-flight selection.
Synthesis
Interviews told us who we were designing for, usability studies showed where they failed, and competitors set the bar. Together they pointed at four problems, ranked by their risk to a completed booking.
Search High risk
Auto-suggest matched text, not intent. One participant spent 5 min 26 s looking for Sydney before giving up.
Usability study 2
Points
None of the participants found it unprompted, and in interviews members said they can’t tell what their points are worth.
Usability studies · Interviews
Price
2 of 8 mobile participants read a round-trip price as one leg, and “From” before a points price raised doubts.
Usability study 3
Payment
Most trips mix points and cash, yet choosing the mix meant leaving the itinerary for a page of internal reward names.
Interviews · Study 1
How we prioritised. By risk to a completed booking. If members can’t find the destination, nothing else matters, so search came first, then points, then payment.
03 · Exploration
We sketched web and mobile on paper first, then moved to high-fidelity wireframes to test fare options, compare and mix-and-match fares, always with the cash price and points price shown together.
The final solution
Points first, mobile first, and built to be rebranded.
04 · Spotlight
Four parts of ORXe 3.0 that answer the research most directly.
New in ORXe 3.0 · Discounted Points Fares
On some flights and fares, points go further. Each eligible fare carries a Discounted points tag, the original points struck through beside the reduced amount, and the saving stated. A Discounted Points Fares switch next to Filters and Sort narrows the list to those flights, here 2 of 6, and the saving is counted again at the fare step and in the trip cart.
Answers problem 1 · Destination search
Auto-suggest now matches what members mean, not just the letters they type. Bigger, busier airports rank first, city names match directly, and a city with several airports gets one All airports row with each airport nested beneath it, so members can search the whole city at once or pick a specific airport.
From usability testing · Destination search
Most participants wanted their current location as the departure airport. Now an empty airport field opens with Select my nearby airport at the top, followed by the airports from recent searches. As soon as members start typing, the list switches to matching airports.
Research → design · Study 3
Members choose the departing flight, then the return, as Study 3 recommended. To answer the trade-off the research flagged, remembering the first choice, the return step carries a Departing flight strip with a Change link, and the trip summary beside the results keeps both choices and the running price in view.
The core feature
Members rarely have enough points for a whole trip. Right under the trip summary they choose: use their points, up to the maximum or an exact amount, or pay by card and keep them. Points cover the flights; fees and extras go on the card. What’s left to pay and the points remaining update with every change.
Try it
Example · 1 point = $0.01
The real screens
The header always shows the member’s points and what they’re worth. On the phone, the home screen leads with it.
Payment repeats exactly what the card will be charged and how many points will be redeemed, with the saved rewards card ready.
A rental car goes into the same cart as the flight, with photos and daily prices. Hotels and activities are added from the trip after booking.
Every confirmation states the points redeemed, the amount charged and the new balance, with links to the trip details, the calendar and print.
Cancelling within 24 hours shows exactly what comes back: the points returned to the balance and the cash refunded to the card.
A date grid shows the fare for every departure and return pair, so members can spot the cheapest combination.
When an airline moves a flight, a summary first lists what changed, with the old flight number, duration, stops and arrival time struck through. Below it, the new flight sits next to the original, so members can accept it or check whether they qualify for a refund.
06 · Mobile first
Every flow started at mobile width. Points stay visible at each step, from the first search to the seat map.
Desktop
On desktop, the extra width goes to the trip summary, which sits beside every step from return flights to payment.
07 · Before and after
Drag the handle to compare the same screen in both versions.
One clear taskA single search bar replaces stacked tabs, notices and secondary links.
Faster repeat searchesRecent searches sit right under the form.
Inspiration belowDestination cards show each trip’s lowest price in cash and points.
Fare options per flightBasic Economy, Main Cabin and Business sit side by side on each result.
Points on every fareEach fare shows its points price, and discounted fares show the saving.
Flight by flightMembers pick the departure first, then the return.
A real cart“My Itinerary” becomes a trip cart that holds the flights, trip protection and a car.
Summary always in viewThe trip summary shows the points and cash split next to the trip.
Points in context“How many points do you want to use?” sits right under the summary, before checkout.
Grouped into cardsBilling, trip review, protection and contact details each get their own card.
Saved cardsMembers pick a saved card, with a reminder to use the rewards card to keep earning points.
One clear actionA single Complete booking button after the terms.
08 · Design system
ORXe serves many bank clients, so every component needed a solid default plus a set of properties a client could change. We documented each component’s anatomy, behavior, properties and usage for designers and developers. The properties marked Custom are the ones a client can rebrand.
One of the documented components. Every other component followed the same format.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Min height (header) | 64px |
| Max width | Mobile 100% of screen Desktop 100% of parent |
| Padding (header) | $spacing-06 |
| Border Custom | None |
| Border radius Custom | Mobile none Desktop $border-radius-base |
| Shadow Custom | Type 2 |
| Margin bottom Custom | $spacing-05 |
| Background Custom | $neutral |
| Header font Custom | $text-md, Semibold |
| Header color Custom | $primary-text |
| Touch target | Container height |
09 · Validation
Moderated remote sessions with four travel-rewards cardholders. Each one booked a round trip for two, Chicago to Los Angeles, with points, thinking aloud from search to confirmation.
See the usability testing report (Google Sheets, opens in a new tab)Participants
What we heard
Worked well
Tripped people up
Asked for
10 · Outcomes
Reported after the 3.0 release.
Search to cart conversion
Cart to booking conversion
Overall abandonment rate
Clients onboarded within 6 months of launch
The results describe the whole release. Testing search and the calculator separately would show which change moved the numbers.
Search was the highest-risk problem. Ranking problems by their risk to a booking made the order of work easy to agree on.
Participants also asked for PayPal at checkout. It stayed out of scope and is the next thing I’d push for.
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