Air passengers invited to test new BA homepage

British Airways has begun testing a new homepage on its website, which has been designed to make it easier for mobile users.

Ba.com attracts more than 500,000 users a day and the airline said it wanted to simplify the booking process for those on computers, tablets or smartphones.

Head of marketing and direct Sara Dunham said: "To make sure we are getting it right for our customers, we have selected at random a small group of them who will be offered the opportunity to opt in to experience the new beta home page, and we will use their feedback to further develop and fine tune the experience for future customers.

"Building on our long history of innovation, we continually look to improve ba.com by adding in extra functionality, more options and a great user experience, allowing British Airways’ digital presence to maintain its lead with the very best premium brands."

While most users will continue to use the current website, some will be invited to test drive British Airways’ latest version of the ba.com homepage and flight booking process, which is still under development.

Initially, the invited customers will be able to test the new end-to-end search and booking flow on a range of short-haul flights, with more flights and features to be added in the coming months.

Those taking part will find a re-designed home page, which adapts to fill the screen by changing the size and resolution of its elements, so it can be viewed on a desktop, tablet or smartphone.

Featuring a new ‘app-like, flowing user-experience’, the home page will offer a cleaner layout with a simple search bar and drop-down calendar.

The new home page has also been designed to give better visibility of the savings when combining flights with hotels or car hire, as well as range of fares, including Basic, Plus or Plus Flex tickets.

Once customers have been offered the chance to choose, reserve and pay for specific seats, the payment page has also been made simpler and easier to complete, with name and payment details pre-populated for Executive Club or logged-in users who’ve chosen to store them in their accounts.

A shopping basket allows users to change their search at any stage in the process, rather than going back to the start.

Additional new features will be added during the course of the beta trial to provide customers with even more booking options.

Customer feedback from the trial will be captured, reviewed and then influence future developments on ba.com.

The website was launched in 1996 and has been visited by millions of customers over the last twenty years.