If you travel frequently, half of the battle is just keeping up with the mundane but critical details. Is your flight leaving on time? What time is check in at your hotel? Do you have enough points for a seat upgrade? These are questions every traveler, frequent or not, spends time answering on every new trip. Time that perhaps could be better spent responding to your boss’s email or reaching out to a new potential client.
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TripIt Pro for iPhone is an app that takes care of the itinerary hassle for you, so you can spend your time on what matters most. The basic version is a free download from the App Store that will organize all of the different aspects of your trip into one easy to follow schedule. Simply send your airline, hotel and other travel confirmations to a special TripIt email address and the app will organize your day for you. You can also sync your email with the app so that if there are any changes to your travel plans, the app will update your schedule before you even know things have changed.
But TripIt’s Pro upgrade is where the app really shines. For $48.99 a year, you’ll receive significantly expanded functionality. TripIt Pro will push instant updates to your phone about flight changes and cancellations as well as gate changes as soon as it happens.
If a delay or cancellation puts you into a tough spot, the app can search for alternate flights, including flight status and open seats. Even if your flight isn’t delayed, you can use the app to attempt to change your seat assignment. Never get stuck in the middle again. The app will also keep track of all of your different frequent flyer and rewards programs, all in one place. You won’t have to go checking five different websites for your account balances before every trip.
TripIt Pro also allows you to instantly share your entire schedule with anyone in your contacts list. Keep your business partners and family up to date on where you are at all times.
The only downside to the app that we can see is that it can be kind of pushy about that Pro upgrade if you’re just planning on using the free version. There is an upgrade banner that will remain on most sections within the app until you upgrade.
We can’t recommend this app to anyone but the most frequent travelers. If you only go on a couple trips per year, it’s probably not worth almost $50. But for real road warriors and business travelers, this app will take your investment and return an even more precious commodity: free time.