Well, here's a new accursed UI pattern. When you try to book a flight on Chase rewards and key in the exact code for the airport you want to go to, it suggests a bunch of non-matching airports, and puts the exact match like 10 options down.
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@pluralistic I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the search has been optimised to look for the name rather than the code. So it might not be enshitification but in fact really poor UX and not testing things before you release them.
@francis That's part of what I'm thinking, too. Probably WAY less than 1% of users use the airport code. Amtrak stations use those codes, too, but who ever uses them? Quick, what's the Amtrak code for Grand Central? You don't know, but it's their busiest station. I don't, either, though I've been there many times. When I use their tool, I find it from a (short) list of NYC-area stations.
These engines are based on the most common usage patterns and errors, not what smart people do.