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Like others, I find myself traveling nearly every week for work. If you are like me, it all starts to blur together and occasionally I have an epic fail! A few weeks ago, I left a client site just a little bit short on time to make my flight to yet another city and another client. Imagine my shock when I arrived to check-in and found that my flight had already boarded and was ready to go. I had confused the departure time due to timezone issues, as well as not paying attention. At that moment, I decided I had better take control or I would experience the same again and again.
I have used the TripIt service for some time and really like it. If you book tickets and get any kind of electronic/email confirmation, you can just forward it to plans@tripit.com. There, your free account will be stuffed with all the relevant dates, times, details, etc. You can even choose to share your travel with a select group of colleagues, friends, and associates and keep track of where they are too. This has really worked well for me, although I did elect to subscribe to the Pro version for the additional benefits. There are also mobile clients for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android smartphones, as well as a very nice mobile site at m.tripit.com for everyone else.
The missing link, however, was understanding how to harness this information to keep me on-track and on time. First, I signed up to start getting email messages 4 hours before scheduled departure with gate information and departure time reminders. On the Blackberry platform, I had discovered a wonderful service called FlightCaster. This service has developed an algorithm that quite accurately predicts whether your flight is going to be on time, or if late, how late and why. This service is also available on the iPhone/Touch. Then I discovered that it can also integrate data from the Tripit site. Eureka!
However, I soon changed Smartphone platforms and there does not appear to be support yet for the Android platform. That led me to start looking at alternatives that might run on my Motorola Droid. Not surprisingly, the Tripit site itself provided the necessary clues. They integrate not only with FlightCaster, but with FlightTrack Pro, TravelTracker, TripDeck, Flight Assistant Pro, GlobeJot and Flights Pro. Almost all of these are available on multiple platforms, but the two that I eventually settled on were FlightTrack Pro and FlightStats for the Android platform, available in the Market. Both seem to be excellent programs, but the integration with FlightTrack Pro and Tripit is direct and automatic, and manual with FlightStats. However, FlightStats has an excellent ability to help you figure out what flight are available at any given time, if things should go wrong. I chose to use FlightTrack Pro as I need to use Corporate Travel to deal with booking issue, so I can leave that problem to others. However, I highly recommend either.
It's very interesting now to land at some airport or another, turn off Airplane mode, and immediately receive a message from FlightTrack Pro informing me that I have arrived xx minutes early, will be coming into gate yy, and that my connecting flight will depart from gate zz in some number of minutes. When I am at a customer site, I get an alert notification that I need to leave in 10 minutes to catch my flight which is currently scheduled xx minutes late due to inbound aircraft or FAA hold, or whatever and is departing out of gate such and such. At least now, if I mess up, it really is my fault. If I can't pay attention with all this information, I really deserve what I get. FlightTrack Pro is currently available for iPhone and Android platforms, with Blackberry soon to follow. There is a cost associated with the Pro version of the application, but it is quite reasonable for the benefit you derive from the TripIt integration. Check it out and see if it can help you too.
BTW, looking for something similar for the Windows Mobile platform? Take a look at the Fizz Traveler and the Fizz Flight Status (add-on) programs. They are my favorites on that platform, and give you very similar information and integration with your travel schedules. Another consideration is Worldmate. It is a great service for Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Blackberry and they have a 50% off discount on the Worldmate Pro until the end of 2009
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Thanks for the ending tweak! Made the article better.
Good information. Thanks for sharing it.
@ Dub No problem. Hope that the information helps and makes it easier. There is not enough time in life for each of us to make our own mistakes!
This is really good information. Can you guys do a review of Worldmate on BB and iPhone?
No problem we will get it done in the next few weeks
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