Mattia Sorrentino - Product Design

Jul 22 - Jun 23

At the height of one of Lufthansa’s worst baggage crises, I designed the lost luggage reporting tool. The goal was to turn a stressful, broken process into a simple digital flow that gave passengers clarity, reassurance, and real-time updates, while reducing the burden on ground staff.

Full breakdown of the case study available on request

Lufthansa

22 - 23

Overview

In the summer of 2022, German airports were overwhelmed by staff shortages and logistical bottlenecks, leading to an unprecedented baggage loss crisis. Passengers were left in the dark, while ground staff had no scalable way to manage claims. Lufthansa Innovation Hub tasked us with building a streamlined digital tool (“Verspätetes Gepäck Melden”) to simplify claim reporting, boost transparency, and ease pressure on crisis management teams.

Goal

The goals were to reduce support costs and boost CSAT by digitizing delayed baggage reporting. Also, to provide passengers with clear, fast, and accessible claim updates. Finally, we needed to create a scalable tool adaptable across Lufthansa Group markets.

My Role

As Senior Product Designer, I led the design and research effort: from field research at Frankfurt Airport and a 501-person passenger survey, to journey mapping, ideation workshops, and UX/UI design across 60+ screens.

My Process

I approached this project as a crisis-mode design challenge. I immersed myself in the airport environment, observing passenger pain points and interviewing affected travelers. Alongside system audits and survey insights, these findings shaped a user journey that emphasized clarity and emotional reassurance. I worked closely with engineers, PMs, and stakeholders to translate research into a responsive web tool, continuously validating with passengers and Lufthansa staff.

Final Outcome

The result was a responsive digital platform that allows passengers to report missing luggage in a few guided steps, get real-time claim updates, and receive personalized feedback. The MVP included: 60+ UI screens across mobile and desktop, atructured prompts and friendly microcopy to reduce stress, mobile-first, travel-optimized design, and real-time status updates and progress tracking

Impact

After the redesign, there has been a ramatic reduction in claim-handling time, a significant boost in passenger satisfaction during peak disruption. Also, ground staff pressure eased through automated, structured reporting. The tool became Lufthansa’s first digital-first lost luggage service, now live across multiple markets.

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Flights disruption context

I conducted field research during Lufthansa’s 2022 baggage crisis, including airport observations, a 501-person survey, and stakeholder alignment sessions that helped me shine a light and define the core problems.

Ideation

I approached ideation from different streams, starting with user journey mapping, assumption clustering, and iterative prototypes that shaped the reporting flow.

Ideation

I approached ideation from different streams, starting with user journey mapping, assumption clustering, and iterative prototypes that shaped the reporting flow.

UI Exploration

We started with quick mobile-first wireframes to define the core reporting flow, then iterated into high-fidelity prototypes optimized for travel environments. The design system included over 60 responsive screens and a typography kit extended across 126 languages, to ensure consistency, scalability, and accessibility for passengers in different markets, while keeping the Lufthansa brand at the center.

UI Exploration