Austrian Airlines - Like a smile in the sky?!

The key to successful web applications is how much it puts the user in the center of the process

…said a wise man a few weeks ago. Well, some webdesigners don’t seem to think that this is the key to success. Today I wanted to look for a flight to the US or to London, or wherever, with Austrian Airlines. I really didn’t bother about the date, it just had to be cheap. So far so good. Nice design (they are still using tables, but okay, I can live with that). It even looks easy to search for a flight, but trust me, it really isn’t.

The first error message you get when you click ‘Search’ is that you haven’t specified a rate for your flight. Okay, there’s was no choice to do that. Second one: ‘There are no flights on the selected dates. On the calendar below you can see available dates for the cheapest fare. Please select another date.’. Didn’t I say that I don’t matter when my flight goes? Okay, just choose another date. Next message: ‘Please select an outbound date, the possible inbound dates will then be shown.’ and a note for the calendar: days with flights available are marked in green, not checked in black,… All black. Nice. Would you mind checkin’ for me? Yes? Too bad that you’re a web application.

I gave up after two other tries. Is it really that hard to design a user friendly web application?