Travel app review: TripIt
TripIt is a free travel app for smartphones that builds trip itineraries. (Undated) Credit: Handout
Travel apps for mobile devices can help you track flight delays, pack smarter or navigate a foreign city like a local-- Direct Flight will be road-testing some of the notables and reporting on the results.
THE APP: TripIt
COST: Free (Pro version $49.99 per year)
PLATFORM: iPhone, Blackberry, Android
WHAT IT DOES: Organizes all your flight, hotel, rental car and other travel reservations into a single, easy-to-access itinerary. Bought concert tickets or booked dinner at a certain restaurant? The app will insert these events into your schedule, complete with reservation and phone numbers and maps. Users simply forward all their confirmation e-mails to plans@tripit.com and the site automatically updates each trip's itinerary with the full booking details.
THE TEST: My pre-trip ritual is anything but seamless -- I tend to waste a lot of time searching e-mail for flight reservations booked months ahead and logging into various sites to print confirmations for hotel rooms and airport shuttles, so the sheer convenience of getting all these reservations tucked into one easy-to-access spot was reason enough to use this app.
I flooded TripIt with confirmation e-mails for an upcoming trip (and one that had just passed) and the app correctly sorted the info, helpfully adding the daily weather forecast and directions between activities. Only one bounced back: a confirmation e-mail sent from Seattle's Underground Tour wasn't compatible with TripIt, so I had to add it reservation manually (see TripIt's full list of supported travel sites) .
BEST FEATURE: Building a trip itinerary automatically via email. Users can also generate a text-only rundown of their full itinerary at any time by e-mailing "Get Trip" to plans@tripit.com. Ideal if you're away from your mobile device or just want to print a hard copy as backup.
BOTTOM LINE: Full-service app + no cost = No-brainer
