Product design question

Design an airport for the new generation.

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Tests systems level product design: reimagining a complex physical space and service flow for a next generation of travelers.

Identify who uses an airport: travelers of varying urgency, airline staff, and security and customs operations.
Define what next generation means here, likely faster security and boarding through biometric identification and reduced physical queuing.
Propose core redesigns: biometric single token travel from check in through boarding, and dynamic space use that adapts to flight volume.
Address a specific pain point, such as long security lines, with a concrete solution like pre cleared biometric lanes.
Define success: average time from arrival to gate and passenger throughput per hour.
State the assumption about which airport scale, a major international hub or a smaller regional airport, you are designing for.

Grounds the redesign in a specific pain point, long security and boarding queues, and proposes biometric single token identification from curb to gate.
Proposes dynamic space allocation, reconfigurable gate and lounge areas that flex with real time flight volume rather than fixed zones.
Addresses accessibility and edge cases, ensuring biometric systems have manual fallback for travelers who opt out or cannot use them.
Sets a measurable goal, for example a stated reduction in average security to gate time and increased passenger throughput per hour.

Designing a purely aesthetic or futuristic airport without addressing concrete throughput or security bottlenecks.
Ignoring privacy concerns and opt out needs around biometric identification systems.

How would you handle travelers who opt out of biometric identification?
What would be your single highest priority redesign if you could only fix one thing?