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Five (And Then Some) Tech Tips for Travel

I have no idea if that self-selecting system actually lets anyone get through the lines faster. But it occurred to me that if there were such a thing as a black-diamond lane for technology, I’m probably in it.

I’ve been racking up about 70 round-trip flights a year, so I know this space pretty well. I’ve got the tech part of it down to a science. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way—tips for maximum flying efficiency and minimum misery.

1. Use TripIt.com. Tripit is this amazing, free Web site. Every time you book a flight, hotel or car rental online, you forward the e-mail confirmation to plans@tripit.com. Magically, the service parses the confirmation e-mail and records all of the details: confirmation numbers, times, dates, flight numbers and so on.

Best part: You can subscribe to your own Tripit feed, meaning that your computer or cellphone calendar will record those flight details automatically. If you’re still typing your flights and travel details into your computer calendar or phone by hand, you’re wasting a lot of time.

2. Use FlightTrack Pro. This app ($10), for iPhone, iPad or Android, is amazing. It shows every detail of every flight: gate, time delayed, airline phone number, where the flight is on the map, and more. It knows more, and knows it sooner, than the actual airlines do.

Or more than they’ll admit. For example, for any flight, one tap shows you its on-time record. You’d be shocked at how rarely certain flights take off or land on time.

(I’ll never forget the time FlightTrack asserted that my flight would be departing 55 minutes late—even as the flight was boarding! I sat there defiantly in my seat in the gate area, working on my laptop. I was confidently putting my trust into FlightTrack’s information, even as the last rows were called for boarding. Just when my nerves couldn’t take anymore, sure enough: people started pouring back off the plane. The gate agents had finally gotten word of the delay, and everybody had to get off and wait 55 minutes, just as my app had foretold.)

Best part: it auto-syncs with Tripit.com. Once again, you’re spared having to do any manual data entry at all.

3. Check in from your phone. For a long time, I wondered why every airline had an iPhone or Android app for checking in. Is displaying a barcode on your phone really so much better than clutching the little boarding pass paper printed out by the kiosk at the airport?

Five (And Then Some) Tech Tips for Travel - NYTimes.com

I have no idea if that self-selecting system actually lets anyone get through the lines faster. But it occurred to me that if there were such a thing as a black-diamond lane for technology, I’m probably in it.

I’ve been racking up about 70 round-trip flights a year, so I know this space pretty well. I’ve got the tech part of it down to a science. Here’s what I’ve learned along the way—tips for maximum flying efficiency and minimum misery.

1. Use TripIt.com. Tripit is this amazing, free Web site. Every time you book a flight, hotel or car rental online, you forward the e-mail confirmation to plans@tripit.com. Magically, the service parses the confirmation e-mail and records all of the details: confirmation numbers, times, dates, flight numbers and so on.

Best part: You can subscribe to your own Tripit feed, meaning that your computer or cellphone calendar will record those flight details automatically. If you’re still typing your flights and travel details into your computer calendar or phone by hand, you’re wasting a lot of time.

2. Use FlightTrack Pro. This app ($10), for iPhone, iPad or Android, is amazing. It shows every detail of every flight: gate, time delayed, airline phone number, where the flight is on the map, and more. It knows more, and knows it sooner, than the actual airlines do.

Or more than they’ll admit. For example, for any flight, one tap shows you its on-time record. You’d be shocked at how rarely certain flights take off or land on time.

(I’ll never forget the time FlightTrack asserted that my flight would be departing 55 minutes late—even as the flight was boarding! I sat there defiantly in my seat in the gate area, working on my laptop. I was confidently putting my trust into FlightTrack’s information, even as the last rows were called for boarding. Just when my nerves couldn’t take anymore, sure enough: people started pouring back off the plane. The gate agents had finally gotten word of the delay, and everybody had to get off and wait 55 minutes, just as my app had foretold.)

Best part: it auto-syncs with Tripit.com. Once again, you’re spared having to do any manual data entry at all.

3. Check in from your phone. For a long time, I wondered why every airline had an iPhone or Android app for checking in. Is displaying a barcode on your phone really so much better than clutching the little boarding pass paper printed out by the kiosk at the airport?

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