How to make the TripIt Pro travel app work your way

Many high flying business travellers swear by TripIt Pro, a travel monitoring website and smartphone app that keeps all your plans in check, syncs them with your calendar and alerts you when there’s a snag in the journey, available by subscription for US$49 (A$71.50) a year.

However, those alerts come far too frequently by default and are often completely unnecessary, tempting new users to ditch the system and go back to managing their schedule the old fashioned way.

We take a look at what TripIt Pro can do, and how to tame its notifications – trimming back what’s not needed but keeping the important alerts flowing.

TripIt Pro: what it does

Think of TripIt Pro as your electronic compendium or organiser. Every time you buy a plane ticket, reserve a car or book a hotel room, just forward the itinerary to TripIt and the details will automatically be loaded in: including those all-important confirmation and ticket numbers.

Gmail, Yahoo! and Outlook.com users can also attach TripIt to their email account where the software automatically detects and imports those itineraries straight from your inbox, but this feature is best avoided by users with privacy concerns or who deal with sensitive or restricted information.

Once in the system, TripIt keeps an eye on your bookings and can notify you of practically everything from delays and flight changes through to when online check-in opens, whether you’ll make your connecting flight and which carousel to collect your luggage from.

TripIt Pro: choose your notifications

Tucked away on the TripIt website is a ‘Travel Alerts’ tab where you can switch all of these notifications on or off, and choose whether they come by SMS or email.

For example, you’d probably want to know if your flight is delayed, cancelled or you’ll make your connecting flight…

… but may not care if online check-in has just opened or that your flight hasn’t changed since the last time you looked:

Disable what you don’t need to keep your alerts relevant, otherwise you’ll begin to habitually ignore them, which defeats the point.

TripIt Pro: what else it can do

TripIt doesn’t just live in the background until something goes wrong: it also syncs your plans with the calendar in your smartphone – so if you have a flight next Tuesday, forget and try to schedule a meeting, your phone should highlight that you’ve already made other plans.

It can also hook-in with the separate FlightTrack Pro app to display your upcoming flights…

… and with easy access to your booking reference and seat number:

Further, trips can also be ‘shared’ with your boss, partner or spouse and synced with their own FlightTrack Pro app, allowing them to keep up-to-date with your whereabouts but without getting all of your trip notifications.

More advanced users can also have the software hunt for their favourite seats, monitor the expiry dates of their frequent flyer points, find alternate flights during delays, hunt for possible refunds when flights change price and more.

For more information, a 30-day free trial of TripIt Pro or a free membership with access to the most basic features, head to the TripIt website.

More travel tips from the AusBT team:

• Using the iPhone’s 'do not disturb' feature on your next business trip
• Five ways to rehearse your next sales presentation on a plane
• How to save emergency medical information in your iPhone
• Sign up for any hotel's rewards scheme
• What flight attendants can teach you about presenting your pitch

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.