Seat-swapping marketplace

Validating a new seat-swapping marketplace concept for British Airways through rapid no-code prototyping and live demand testing at Heathrow Airport.

Bow & Arrow is a digital innovation consultancy, acquired by Accenture in 2019, specialising in identifying new opportunities for blue chip companies and validating desirability, viability and feasibility.

One of my first ventures was identifying a new opportunity in aviation for British Airways.

Passengers were fed up with hidden airline fees. What used to be free was now a paid luxury.

Speaking to hundreds of passengers across UK airports, one theme emerged loud and clear: people were unhappy with their seats.

So we booked ourselves on flights, tested demand for buying, selling and swapping seats with other passengers, then built and deployed a no-code web app in 2 weeks.

Alongside building our no-code app in Bubble, I storyboarded, animated and edited a product demo video in a few days — and it went down a treat with British Airways.

We launched on live flights to test demand. Over one afternoon at Heathrow: 127 sign ups, 24 free seat swaps, and 12 paid seat swaps.

You might wonder how we got away with swapping tickets — thankfully British Airways had our back the whole way...until passengers started bringing home more than just souvenirs.

Coronavirus grounded all flights and the project along with them, and it never took off again.