Travel Tools - My beef with TripIt

I know there's quite a few fliers out there who use TripIt as part of planning and managing travel.

I've been using it for the past three years as a paid subscriber, and after planning a two week trip in Asia starting from tomorrow (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1145038-asia-2010-trip-epic-proportions.html), there's a number of things about it which really annoy the heck out of me.

I've decided after months of waiting for TripIt to get its act together, trying to work with their support people to get simple but important improvements and fixes going, that enough is enough.

Their lack of action needs more of a public discussion and airing, particularly amongst the frequent flyer community who use their product. As such, I've written an article as part of my trip report, titled My beef with TripIt (http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/blogs/thewinchester/183-asia-2010-chapter-3-my.html).

The article covers a selection of the most annoying bugs and user interface issues I come across while using the service. In having a vent about TripIt, I'd love to know what others think too.

Do you use it? Do you find the same problems? If you're a free user, is it good enough for you to upgrade? Do my issues sway your opinions of the site?

Love to hear your input and views, if only to work out if it's just a user experience person finding things nobody else is - or there is actually more to it and this is actually a real issue/annoyance for users.

Interesting read. I've been using TripIt for about a year, and I have not had many problems. I don't use it to check weather, instead I use it to have the info in one place when I might need to pull it up.. There are times when I wish that it would be easier to fix info when I've got a schedule change, but overall, it suits my needs.

Honestly, I find the drop down box on the website you go to after you link to the other thread way more irritating than any of those issues. None of them really have ever bothered me.

I agree that the speed at which TripIt implements fixes, new features and improvements to their interface is poor. I have some features that I requested over a year ago which also seem to me to be obvious and easy to implement. I am sure there are many other people who are also making requests/suggestions so TripIt does need to filter and prioritize. But in some cases I don't understand how things got implemented the way they are from the start.... it makes me wonder if the people at TripIt just don't "get it".

I've been pretty impressed with some of the competitors to TripIt which I've seen emerge in the last six months. (Or maybe I only learned about them in the last six months). TripIt had a huge lead, but these competitors are cheaper or even free, and offer very similar functionality. If TripIt do not get their act together soon, one of their competitors who "gets it" will push them put of top spot. Let's not forget what google did to yahoo...

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone ever tried to complete a trip only on the information stored in trip-it? I dislike carrying bundles of print-outs and would rather just store everything in my Android phone with the Trip-it app. It seems too me that a simple print-out should be no more legitimate than the data on a screen you present to airline agents, security etc.

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone ever tried to complete a trip only on the information stored in trip-it?

I spent three weeks in Europe this spring and used TripIt for just about everything, including three airport check-ins, several hotels and a cruise. The only time we needed a printout was for a hotel in Austria where the desk clerk insisted on getting "a ticket" from us, so I borrowed a computer and printed out the reservation confirmation sitting in my Gmail account.

My complaint (and I have given them feedback) is that they automatically populate the itinerary with maps, directions, made up check-in times (how many itineraries show a 4PM check-in event when my flight lands @ 7:30PM or a check out at noon when I am already on a plane. Really, don't bother with all that garbage and save the programming cycles for doing a few things right rather than many things poorly. Frankly, I think WorldMate is much better (I use both) and the only reason I use TripIt is that it provides an iCal feed to my Google calendar (we use google apps as our corporate e-mail backbone). If WM did that, I'd lose TripIt.

I would love it if they just populate the items that are sent and not embellish it with other junk. If I need directions or a map, my Droid Incredible can get that for me with a touch of a button. All that junk just clutters up everything and makes it hard to see what I want - my travel info.

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone ever tried to complete a trip only on the information stored in trip-it? I dislike carrying bundles of print-outs and would rather just store everything in my Android phone with the Trip-it app. It seems too me that a simple print-out should be no more legitimate than the data on a screen you present to airline agents, security etc.

I only use it on the web site, to put together itineraries that I print out.

For European trips, without data roaming, you can't really use it anyways, though it does seem to cache some data.

I don't find the Google Maps integration useful (again, if you don't have data roaming, you can't really use those maps) so I delete the auto directions and maps of hotels most of the time. Instead, I take screen shots of Google Maps exactly the way I want it centered and zoomed and then upload them as files.

But I find that those screen shots render better through Mobile Safari than in the TripIt app.

I fly at most half a dozen leisure trips a year so don't see the point of upgrading to Pro, because the gate changes and last-minute info. is rarely relevant.

I've played around a bit with Kayak Trips but maybe I'm just used to TripIt, it's fine for my purposes.

For European trips, without data roaming, you can't really use it anyways, though it does seem to cache some data.

I use the iPhone version without data roaming and it works just fine. You can't get maps, as you noted, but itinerary details will sync to the iPhone's TripIt app in advance, and you can also sync your iPhone's calendar from the TripIt calendar feed in advance so that plans show up on the iPhone calendar in the iPhone's time wherever you are.

True but I rather have a few pages printed out to look at than waking up the iPhone and loading the app and scrolling around.

I do have the calendar syncing with my Google Calendar, which sends SMS alerts. But I really don't rely on it since I have the printout.

The auto time zone thing seems to work though.

I only use it on the web site, to put together itineraries that I print out.

For European trips, without data roaming, you can't really use it anyways, though it does seem to cache some data.


You can cache an entire trip if you load it with the Tripit app before heading away from an area where you have wifi/3G connection.

I do agree with you on the maps though, I tend to print those out as well. If google maps would allow offline caching it would mean the world to me.

I'm using TripDeck on my iPhone to sync trips from TripIt. The data in TripDeck only downloads from TripIt when I am at home. Most of my travelling is by train and neither TripIt or TripDeck are good with trains - for example, neither of them include which platform the train is leaving. I've contacted the support people at TripDeck and they say they will add this information in the future.

For maps, I use OpenMaps on my iPhone. When I am at home, I simply download maps of all the cities I will visit and I use the "pin" feature to place a pin on the map for my hotel or other places I need to go.

I also keep copies of email confirmations on my iPhone. A few weeks ago, I picked up train tickets after reserving on the Internet and the agent forgot to print out one ticket. Since the confirmation email (with booking number) was also on my iPhone, I showed it to the conductor and he confirmed it by telephone. This was very convenient.

I would love it if they just populate the items that are sent and not embellish it with other junk. If I need directions or a map, my Droid Incredible can get that for me with a touch of a button. All that junk just clutters up everything and makes it hard to see what I want - my travel info.

I've figured out that when i sign into the TripIt website, go to Settings, and then the About Me section, there is a check box that reads "Auto-add maps & directions to my trips"

Once I unchecked that box, no more maps and directions added to the new itineraries created by TripIt..

I've figured out that when i sign into the TripIt website, go to Settings, and then the About Me section, there is a check box that reads "Auto-add maps & directions to my trips"

Once I unchecked that box, no more maps and directions added to the new itineraries created by TripIt..

Plus they're easy enough to delete, at least from the website (which is great because I can edit it from anywhere).

For an upcoming trip to NY, they put in the directions from JFK to my hotel but they're driving directions when I'm going to take the AirTrain and the LIRR.

I couldn't edit the directions so I deleted them and then looked up the public transport directions in Google Maps and then typed them in (shorter than Google Maps list of steps) into the Notes for the hotel.

I use the free version, I don't see the additional value for the paid version, at least for me. I use the iphone app and find it useful for a single page glance at the whole trip, especially when my company does not book Hertz and I go to the Hertz lot out of routine.:td:

That alone makes it worthwhile. Now anywhere else I would need to explain to someone why I didn't realize what car company I was booked on but here on FT many will understand...

But how long will there be a free version if not enough people upgrade to the Pro version?

I've figured out that when i sign into the TripIt website, go to Settings, and then the About Me section, there is a check box that reads "Auto-add maps & directions to my trips"

Once I unchecked that box, no more maps and directions added to the new itineraries created by TripIt..

BNAMIKE

Hey - thanks. I've searched for that capability and never found it. Even e-mail TripIt to suggest and they never pointed it out.

Also, let me complement you on pointing out something you knew without it being a sarcastic flame. Appreciated and very civil - you set a good example!

Jiri

I've figured out that when i sign into the TripIt website, go to Settings, and then the About Me section, there is a check box that reads "Auto-add maps & directions to my trips"


+1 Thank you.

-David

I love TripIt, but I've never relied on it for weather info and I rarely use the website. I guess the issues you have never really affected me. It's worked perfectly with my company's corporate travel for every itinerary I've thrown at it. I've even sent MegaBus and Amtrak reservations to it.

My only real issue with TripIt is the way it handles itineraries with multiple destinations. It simply does not work. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that it loves to automatically combine adjacent trips into a single trip. The city you're in doesn't get updated, your destination map doesn't get updated, your total traveled miles doesn't get updated. It's annoying.

On the whole, I rarely look at airline websites anymore for itinerary information.

I think the alternative others have alluded to in this thread might be TripCase. TripCase is the competitive app that provides flight alerts (delays, cancellations, gate changes) as a part of the free product.

I did not allude to that one when I mentioned competitors but I think it would be useful if somebody put together a brief list of the options with a basic comparison. I wish I could do it but I only have experience with TripIt (so far...)

Well, TripIt have responded officially to the points I've raised (http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/blogs/thewinchester/183-asia-2010-chapter-3-my.html) (see their comment at the link(. Sadly, I don't think their VP for Product has dug deeper into comments made on threads discussing it.

Here's a full copy of Will Aldrich's full response;

Michael,

Thanks for all your feedback, both in this blog post and in your TripIt helpdesk tickets. We appreciate the effort you've put into sending us detailed explanations of how you're using TripIt and the problems you've encountered. This kind of feedback is incredibly important to our team and we don't take it for granted. Many features we've built into TripIt have been inspired by exactly this kind of feedback.

I'd like to address the points you raise in the post.

1) I'll start with your point that "Removing features degrades experience" in which you take issue with the way we've changed the ability to edit weather locations. You point out that TripIt often guesses wrong about what location you'll be in, and then shows you the wrong weather (i.e. Perth vs. Singapore). You also note that fixing location by changing "weather location" has been removed and there's no timeframe for when it'll be back. Here's why. We've been evaluating a pretty big change to our architecture that would make TripIt faster. It would require a change in how we handle locations and weather. Since most folks don't use the "change your location by editing your weather" feature today we've been suppressing it on a trial basis. I'm sorry you've been inconvenienced by it. Bottom line, we can (and will) do better at guessing the location of your plans over time, which will obviate the need for using this clunky workaround in the first place.

2) Singapore Airlines confirmations don't work, even though the airline is on TripIt's list of supported sites
We know there are problems with Singapore Airlines' PDFs, and we mentioned this in our response in the ticket you filed with us. We do support other confirmation formats from Singapore. In your post, you take our helpdesk staff to task for closing your ticket without resolving it. I looked into the issue and it seems that our rep Ruth had asked you to check something on the Singapore site. After we didn't hear back for 28 days, our system automatically closed the ticket. We'd be happy to keep working the issue with you if you like. I'm going to look at our policy of auto-closing tickets after 28 days of inactivity. I can't promise we're going to change this (it's been working ok for almost a year) but we are already discussing it internally.
NB: This is incorrect, there was no request for further information after their first response. A copy of the booking, in three different formats supplied by SQ were supplied to TripIt via their support system. They did not investigate the issue further.


3) Time zone issues are challenging. Yes, RFC2445 has been around since November 1998, but most major PIMs (Outlook, iCal, Google Calendar, etc.) have only added iCalendar feed support in the last five to seven years and they handle time zone rules differently. As you might expect, big vendors change their implementations from one release to another, which making things even murkier. For example, Outlook supports floating time zones. Google Calendar initially did too, but then stopped supporting them in April 2009 without warning. iCal 3 for Mac works great with TripIt's calendar feeds. iCal 4 does not. In this environment, developers like TripIt (and the travelers who rely on us) have to choose between unappealing alternatives. We've been taking a wait-and-see approach on changing our iCal feed format since making a change prematurely could cause chaos for a lot of people.

As to your point about TripIt having crazy dropdowns for picking a time zone for a reservation, I agree! We've got some work to do. We're actively working now to refine all our data entry forms (a big effort that goes way beyond time zone selection) so hopefully there'll be improvement on this front soon. Will there be a shorter dropdown? Not immediately. But the improvements we're building now will save a lot of headaches for all our users right off the bat. Once implemented, they'll make it easier for us to consider fancier things like guessing what time zone your plan should be in, based on its location.

4) Maintain user defaults: Expand/collapse doesn't persist from one pageview to the next. You've pointed out a shortcoming of our service that annoys me and many of us at TripIt. We haven't chosen to address it yet because we've got a long priority list and it hasn't risen to the top yet. We'll get to it, but I don't know when.

5) "Why do you bombard me with advertising?"
Advertising is an important part of TripIt's business. We're passionate about the mission we're on to improve the travel experience over the long term, and we must generate revenue in order to sustain our efforts. That said, we are constantly working to deliver a great user experience that world-class travel brands can also participate in. If you're a Pro user, you see ads on the Web and in some emails (fewer ads than free users do), but you don't see any ads in our iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry apps.

I hope this helps clarify where we stand on the issues you raised. I'm happy to talk further. Meanwhile, let us know if you want to delve further into your Singapore Airlines issue. I'm grateful for your feedback, and appreciate your patronage as a TripIt Pro subscriber. We're working hard to continually improve TripIt, and your feedback inspires us to do better.

Will Aldrich
VP Product

I've used the free version for more than a year. I think it is great. Having all my data for a trip in 1 place has been very helpful. My only personal bad experiences are trains. Except for Amtrak, it doesn't seem to know what to do with European rail ticket confirmations including DB and SJ (Swedish rail)

Well I have to give it to Tripit's Will Aldritch that his response is fairly self-critical. While there's the usual grating of "working on it" and "we are aware of this issue" I think that overall he's not making any real brush-away excuses.

I really like TripIt but I too get frustrated with a lot of features. I can't figure out how to do things I used to be able to do, like edit the city I am in, etc.

TripIt is also really bad, as someone mentioned, at multi-city trips. For someone like me that often goes on one-ways from one place to the next, I need to use workarounds in TripIt which is annoying.

I too have found them unresponsive to suggestions/requests. I've submitted at least 30 reports (1 for every stay) of problem with one hotel booking site and they just never fix it.

That said, I love the ability to download an entire trip onto my iphone and go, even when I don't have roaming. I used this for 9 months of travel with no SIM card in my phone, I'd just get my itinerary onto the phone when I had wifi and never printed anything out. Really handy.

It's interesting to see what high expectations people have from a free service. I find Tripit's capabilities helpful and pretty amazing. I used to build my own itineraries in a single word document, it was a pain! But for years now, I've just been subscribing to my Tripit calendar feed, or maybe I print out the itin. for complex trips. Once, my printed Tripit itinerary was sufficient to get me past security at LHR. And as for the OP's concerns:
Honestly, I find the drop down box on the website you go to after you link to the other thread way more irritating than any of those issues. None of them really have ever bothered me.

+1. Finally, I don't need the "Pro" capabilities, but if Tripit went to a paid-only model, maybe $10-$20 /year, I'd sign up for it. But they should lock me in, as others seem to be catching up.

How does TripIt use location services anyways?

It would be smart if it detects your location and adjusts the time zone automatically. Or just get the clock from the system.

Then send you alerts for the items you have in the itinerary based on the local time.

But no push notifications, as far as I can see. Looks like they will send you SMS if you upgrade to Pro.

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone ever tried to complete a trip only on the information stored in trip-it? I dislike carrying bundles of print-outs and would rather just store everything in my Android phone with the Trip-it app. It seems too me that a simple print-out should be no more legitimate than the data on a screen you present to airline agents, security etc.

I used it for a 5 week Japan/Europe/Hong Kong trip I just completed. All went fine until I trusted the time of a flight which it managed to screw up (6:30pm flight, it had it as 7:30pm - on the website it was correct, on the phone it was incorrect). Missed checkin by about 5 minutes, was rebooked but the hotel for that night was, well, it was a very full night in London so it was a hell of a lot. Until they can sort out the timezone issues I won't be using it again.

I used it for a 5 week Japan/Europe/Hong Kong trip I just completed. All went fine until I trusted the time of a flight which it managed to screw up (6:30pm flight, it had it as 7:30pm - on the website it was correct, on the phone it was incorrect). Missed checkin by about 5 minutes, was rebooked but the hotel for that night was, well, it was a very full night in London so it was a hell of a lot. Until they can sort out the timezone issues I won't be using it again.

Are you sure it wasn't the recently publicized summer time / daylight savings time bug in the iPhone?

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone ever tried to complete a trip only on the information stored in trip-it? I dislike carrying bundles of print-outs and would rather just store everything in my Android phone with the Trip-it app. It seems too me that a simple print-out should be no more legitimate than the data on a screen you present to airline agents, security etc.

i have been using trip-it all year. Traveling every week, i only use Trip-it via my blackberry. Never need to print anything out. Occasionally i do have to fix imports via the website(sometimes it imports usairways flights as continental). otherwise all my info is right there and easily accessible.

Are you sure it wasn't the recently publicized summer time / daylight savings time bug in the iPhone?

I don't believe it was because the flight booking and flight were all during standard time, daylight saving came in a few days after the flight.

Been using the free version for about a year now, domestic and Europe with no problems. Even correctly added Eurostar reservations easily IIRC.

Good for what it does and I am very happy with it. Shows up fine on both my iPod Touch and Android phone no matter if I use the web site, phone or touch for inputs.

Cheers

Free version has its bugs (as described in detail above) but is overall a good product that I enjoy using.

I signed up for the Pro trial at the beginning of October, since I had a month of heavy traveling and figured it'd be a good time to test it out.

Based on my experience, I would have canceled the trial at the end of the month, but unfortunately, TripIt got the best of me and I forgot to cancel and have since been charged for the annual fee. It's only $49, but still, I don't find enough value in the Pro features to make it worth the fee.

The biggest issue (and one I've brought up in an email conversation) is the lack of real-time itinerary monitoring. TripIt Pro monitors flights based on publicly-available flight status information (same thing you can see for yourself on FlightStats or FlightAware), which is fine...until you have a schedule change or are put on a different flight during IRROPS. That totally blows up TripIt, because it doesn't know when you are arriving or departing anymore and can't give you the info you need.

They really need to do what PageOnce/TripTracker does and actively monitor reservations, whether it's by saving your login information to the airline's website (as PageOnce/TripTracker does) or by using your confirmation number and name to access the itinerary (all airlines allow this, AFAIK).

I was planning on canceling my subscription until this very core functionality was implemented, but I guess TripIt got the best of me. :rolleyes:

Other minor Pro annoyances are the alerts. Push alerts would be better; SMS is a bad (and potentially expensive) option when roaming. It also doesn't work onboard, whereas push alerts would work with onboard wifi.

Also, alerts and the app do not consistently show gate information, even among various flights on the same airline. Sometimes I can rely on the alert to tell me where my next gate is, and other times I've looked through my phone for the gate and ended up having to run to locate a bank of monitors to see where my flight is.

I like the Facebook integration, since it allows friends who are in other cities to see when I'm visiting and has facilitated meet-ups, but it's a bit buggy, especially when TripIt misinterprets a trip. I've apparently made plans to visit my own home city several times. :rolleyes:

All of these are minor, though. Getting TripIt to monitor itineraries directly from the airlines will ensure I renew my subscription. Otherwise, I'll most likely be discontinuing it after my year is up, and if I can find a way out of it before then and get some of my money back, I likely will.

TripCase sounds like a good product, but it's only available for itineraries booked using SABRE (which owns it). I fly mainly AS and DL, neither of whose itineraries are viewable on SABRE.

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone ever tried to complete a trip only on the information stored in trip-it? I dislike carrying bundles of print-outs and would rather just store everything in my Android phone with the Trip-it app. It seems too me that a simple print-out should be no more legitimate than the data on a screen you present to airline agents, security etc.

Every single trip for the past few years!

The only time I take anything other than a printout from TripIt is when there's something like a barcode on the original confirmation (eg, Alamo) or for international flight confirmations in case I get asked at immigration.

The international flight confirmations probably aren't needed, but fit into the "better safe than sorry" category.

I've been using Tripit free for about a year and a half and I love it. I usually travel without a printout of my itinerary, though I do make the printout to hand in with my expense reports. I've probably been in a dozen time zones this year and Tripit has gotten it all correct (turn on Time Zone Support in iCal; no problems on an iPhone).

The only problems I really have with Tripit is they don't change my seat assignments after upgrade (thanks for the tip about turning off maps) but the last few days it no longer syncs with my calendar and I do find that annoying. Tried resetting it and still no luck.

Any ideas?

I do get SMS and email alerts on any changes and way before the airline contacts me which is great when you are still on board and can make changes before you land.

The only problems I really have with Tripit is they don't change my seat assignments after upgrade (thanks for the tip about turning off maps) but the last few days it no longer syncs with my calendar and I do find that annoying. Tried resetting it and still no luck.

Any ideas?.

I had this issue with my current trip. The sync didn't update until I manually added a non-related event to my calendar.

The only problems I really have with Tripit is they don't change my seat assignments after upgrade (thanks for the tip about turning off maps) but the last few days it no longer syncs with my calendar and I do find that annoying. Tried resetting it and still no luck.

That's related to the issue I posted about above. They do not monitor your itinerary in real-time, so they have no way of knowing when things (seats, flight numbers, etc.) change.

This is a MAJOR shortfall that needs to be addressed.

I had this issue with my current trip. The sync didn't update until I manually added a non-related event to my calendar.

I tried that and it didn't work. But I added it as a seperate calendar on my gmail account and then emailed the link to my email and then from my IPAD and Iphone was able to subscribe to the feeds. Don't know if this are now going to show up in duplicate, but it was quite amazing to watch my empty calendar update on all 3 calendars at the same time. Now all the free time I was hoping I had is now gone!!

Thanks so much for your help, it was so frustrating!!

They do not monitor your itinerary in real-time, so they have no way of knowing when things (seats, flight numbers, etc.) change.

This is a MAJOR shortfall that needs to be addressed.


+1

for a paid service this really needs to be handled.

I get the most value from the calendar sync...my Outlook automatically forwards my confirmations and then they sync to my and my girlfriend's iPhone.

Agree that realtime monitoring of seat assignments is needed. They monitor fares, which is great! I've already made back much more than the cost of my subscription. And my biggest peeve, they don't get that reservation changes are not new reservations, and end up duplicating instead of modifying.

QL

I get the most value from the calendar sync...my Outlook automatically forwards my confirmations and then they sync to my and my girlfriend's iPhone.

Agree that realtime monitoring of seat assignments is needed. They monitor fares, which is great! I've already made back much more than the cost of my subscription. And my biggest peeve, they don't get that reservation changes are not new reservations, and end up duplicating instead of modifying.

QL

They track fares or they monitor changes to a refundable fare that you've purchased and let you know so you can get the difference back>

Of course, if you buy the cheapest fares like many people do, you can't get any refunds for fare changes.

I get the most value from the calendar sync...my Outlook automatically forwards my confirmations and then they sync to my and my girlfriend's iPhone.

Agree that realtime monitoring of seat assignments is needed. They monitor fares, which is great! I've already made back much more than the cost of my subscription. And my biggest peeve, they don't get that reservation changes are not new reservations, and end up duplicating instead of modifying.

QL

I've been using TripIt for more than a year, and I have NEVER received anything about getting money back. How do I make sure that I receive warning about this?

They track fares or they monitor changes to a refundable fare that you've purchased and let you know so you can get the difference back>

Of course, if you buy the cheapest fares like many people do, you can't get any refunds for fare changes.

Actually, some airlines do allow you to claim some money back (usually in the form of a voucher) if the fare drops, even on restricted fare classes. Alaska and (IIRC) JetBlue allow it unlimited times for free, while other airlines charge the change fee for claiming the refund (which means it's only worth it if the fare drops more than the change fee). Details on which airlines do what here: http://www.yapta.com/airline-refunds/

I've been using TripIt for more than a year, and I have NEVER received anything about getting money back. How do I make sure that I receive warning about this?

I've never received a notice from TripIt, either, but IIRC, they partner with Yapta. Not sure how the integration works, though, since I've always just tracked my stuff directly with Yapta.

I use the free version, and while there are bugs that do annoy me, like Tripits inability to detect what city I will be staying in properly on some of my more complex itineraries, I find that for the price (FREE) the feature set of being able to check my travel on mobile is unparalleled.

As I don't pay for it, the quirks that are annoying, I write off as a cost of using the service.

I like the free product myself..and signed up for the 30 day trial but missed cancelling it before the cut off. I don't find the pro version adds anything terribly useful.

This realtime monitoring of reservations that some people have described would be excellent! That would really solve my problems with it (and give value to the annual fee). Also, I wish I could add notes to the file bia my Blackberry - even just things like flight delays or a note to myself about good service. Being able to do that through the app would make recording any trip notes much easier.

This realtime monitoring of reservations that some people have described would be excellent! That would really solve my problems with it (and give value to the annual fee).

I've sent feedback to TripIt and they sound appreciative but not terribly interested in implementing it, though my latest email to them was received better than the initial one.

Also, it really sounds like they are not monitoring FlyerTalk or this thread. I encourage everyone who thinks this would be valuable to email your thoughts to them (and remind them they should become active in the FT community, since we are a huge potential user-base for them). :)

Finally I gave TripIt a try on my android phone. My friend had been after me to try this out for the longest time and I caved in this afternoon.

The process on my android phone was easy and took only a few minutes. The fact that TripIt supports scanning my gmail for travel related emails and import data made it really easy.

All my future travel plans are now available on my phone. Just love it....I will do more posts on this topic as I start using it more. I read about issues /complaints which I know are valid but I guess TripIt has done a good job so far and hope they continue to improve their offering

They track fares or they monitor changes to a refundable fare that you've purchased and let you know so you can get the difference back>

Of course, if you buy the cheapest fares like many people do, you can't get any refunds for fare changes.

You need the PRO version. All my alerts have been on Alaska, which credits back the difference as an e-voucher. I'm not sure which other airlines it tracks.

QL

Got an offer to try TripIt Pro for free for a month...still trying to make up my mind.

TripCase sounds like a good product, but it's only available for itineraries booked using SABRE (which owns it). I fly mainly AS and DL, neither of whose itineraries are viewable on SABRE.

Not true at all! TripCase is agnostic to booking source. If you book with a TripCase connected partner (like a Sabre agent and others), you can easily import your itinerary info into TripCase with just the six letter reservation code. If you book with any other source, simply forward your email confirmation to the TripCase trip email address and it will be automatically parsed and entered into your TripCase. As a final alternative, you can manually enter your reservation information into TripCase either online or on your smartphone.

Not true at all! TripCase is agnostic to booking source. If you book with a TripCase connected partner (like a Sabre agent and others), you can easily import your itinerary info into TripCase with just the six letter reservation code. If you book with any other source, simply forward your email confirmation to the TripCase trip email address and it will be automatically parsed and entered into your TripCase. As a final alternative, you can manually enter your reservation information into TripCase either online or on your smartphone.

I did discover that. However, it looks like it is doing the same thing as what TripIt does: just taking note of my currently-booked flights and monitoring those. I'll see if TripCase picks up on changes automatically if I have any changes to my itinerary...

The main thing that bugs me with tripit is i cant edit nor add any trips on the blackberry version (or I just don't know how) unlike the tripcase program which is important when I get rebooked (which happens often)

Recently, I've been getting updates for the flights that I am taking, but they are being sent to me the day before departure.. :confused:

I've figured out that when i sign into the TripIt website, go to Settings, and then the About Me section, there is a check box that reads "Auto-add maps & directions to my trips"

Once I unchecked that box, no more maps and directions added to the new itineraries created by TripIt..

Thanks for this, I asked Tripit almost 18 months ago to remove the maps and never heard back from them other than it'll be added to the list of enhancements.

My only real issue with TripIt is the way it handles itineraries with multiple destinations. It simply does not work. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that it loves to automatically combine adjacent trips into a single trip. The city you're in doesn't get updated, your destination map doesn't get updated, your total traveled miles doesn't get updated. It's annoying.

This particular failing makes TripIt very difficult for me to use, since many of my trips involve multiple destinations. It's fine for simple roundtrips, but I really would appreciate its organization skills on the complex multi-city trips that it can't process unless it's fed the itinerary bit by bit.

I actually have the opposite problem on adjacent trips, though: merging trips never seems to work for me, since it thinks that I'm returning home (A-B-A-C) when I'm actually continuing a trip that's already in the system (A-B-C).

They're also missing out on some reporting that I'm sure their user base would appreciate. I moved over to TripIt from Dopplr, which has a lot of fun and nicely formatted data-visualization toys available for its users -- a traveler's "average speed," most common destinations, carbon footprint, an elegant map with circles sized by time spent at destination -- which are pretty simple computations.

As for not having print-outs, I once had an LHR immigration agent say something like "I appreciate that you have all that information on your phone, but if I was visiting your country I'd be sure to have it all printed out." Didn't make any sense (and I still don't print anything out), but it was pretty harsh.

I love tripit- have used it for a couple of years and have never had to print anything out since then.

The only small issue I see is that sometimes my flight confirmation codes and/or my hotel addresses dont get logged- but I usually take a quick look the day before departure and put them in manually on the website if needed.

I am surprised to see problems with Singapore Airlines integration- I am on a trip right now which I booked with Singapore airlines and tripit worked fine.