My favorite travel apps

Every frequent traveler has their own set of apps that they use to stay in the know on the go. For me, I like having as much information as possible about each of my travel plans, so I use a relatively large number of apps to keep me informed. Below is a list and description of each of the apps that I use, in order of frequency of use:

1. FlightTrack Pro (free version also available)

FligthTrack Pro gives me information about each of my flights. As soon as the airline gives any info about a flight, it goes into FlightTrack, and I’m able to see gate changes, delays, and the amount of time I have for a layover. The difference between Free and Pro is that Pro syncs with TripIt, an online travel organizer. I use TripIt for all my travel plans, so I bought the $4.99 Pro version to have TripIt automatically populate my flights in FlightTrack.

2. Waze

Waze is Google Maps on crack. It gives you turn-by-turn voice navigation and also routes you around traffic using real-time information from other drivers using the app. If a traffic jam arises further ahead on your route, it will re-route mid-drive. It will also alert you to police that other “Wazers” have spotted as well as other hazards on the road. A recent update now includes gas stations, sorted by distance or price, along your route. I don’t go anywhere without this amazing app.

3. TripIt

TripIt is just awesome. The free version is pretty much all you’ll need. Whenever you book travel, whether it’s a hotel, rental car, or flight, you can forward the confirmation email to TripIt and it will automatically create a trip profile for you. Forward it a bunch of confirmations from one trip and it organizes them together. For Gmail and a bunch of other domains, you can set up TripIt to just scan your email every so often so you don’t even have to forward it your travel information.

4. TaxiMagic

This is by far the best app for taxis in my opinion. Yes Uber is great, but their fares tend to be much higher than the services that are on TaxiMagic. The app is user-friendly and allows you to pay for your cab (for a small fee) on the app itself instead of having to do so in the vehicle. This is especially helpful for some taxi services that don’t have credit card readers installed. With TaxiMagic you can see a map of where your cab is and how far it is from you. It will also tell you the cab number so you know what to look for when you go outside to catch it. Most major cities I’ve been in have TaxiMagic (notably excepting San Francisco).

5. FlightAware

One thing that most airline and flight tracking apps and websites fail badly at is showing your incoming flight. Sometimes I’m about to leave for the airport and my flight shows on-time on the airline website, but I get there and discover it’s delayed. Oftentimes you can know this will happen before the airline updates flight times by checking on where the incoming flight is. FlightAware allows you to do this. On the app you can type in your flight number and then click “Track Inbound Flight”. With reasonable reliability it can produce the flight your aircraft is currently flying and tell you how far away it is

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6. SeatGuru

Ever pick a seat on your flight and get on the airplane to discover it’s a lot worse than it looked on the airline website? SeatGuru can stop that from ever happening. Type in your flight number on the app and it will produce your plane’s seat map and tell you which seats are good, which seats are bad, and why. I’ve avoided numerous tight bulkheads that looked great online by reading SeatGuru.

7. GateGuru

GateGuru tells you what’s around you in your airport. It will give restaurants, shops, pretty much anything that’s in the airport, you can find on this app. This is helpful especially in larger airports because stores and restaurants are tucked away in different areas of the airport you might not have walked through otherwise.

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There are other apps out there that I like. Delta and American have the best airline apps, in my opinion, followed by United. You might as well download all the airline apps available because they can be helpful in providing you information about your flight.