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?

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Five (And Then Some) Tech Tips for Travel

You open the app—the day before your flight, for example, or even on the way to the airport—and it automatically shows the flight you're about to take. It's much smarter than most airline kiosks, which make you manually enter your flight information



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What You Need To Know About Skywest Airline Carriers

Skywest Airlines is not one of the most recognized regional airlines. Nonetheless, they have almost 40 years of service flying to numerous American cities. Due to partnering with many other carriers throughout the years, they have been able to increase the markets they serve. Whenever you want to travel around the Western part of the United States – in Colorado, Utah, or California – you can count on Skywest Airlines to make your travel more convenient. Below is information about how this progressive airline can make setting up your next trip very easy.

In 1972 when Ralph Atkin started Skywest Airlines in Utah only two cities were served: St. George and Salt Lake City. At the time, it served the needs of a few hundred businessmen who frequently traveled between these two cities in Utah. Partnerships with many larger airlines including Air Tran, United, Delta, and most recently Alaska Airlines has lead Skywest to provide flights in Canada and the United States to over 100 cities. The U.S. regions of the Mid-West, West Coast and Southwest are serviced through its partners to many of the cities in these areas. After forty years, Skywest currently offers almost 1500 daily departures.

Alaska Airlines is the most current airline that has been added to the Skywest Airlines group. This means more flights to destinations such as Seattle, Portland, Fresno and Santa Barbara. The affiliation between Alaska Airlines and Skywest began in May of 2011. Not only does Alaska Airlines offer you convenient and numerous flights in the State of Alaska and up and down the Western seaboard of America, it can also arrange flight and vacation packages for you to such places as Las Vegas, Hawaii, Mexico, and Disneyland. With five partners to work with, after the addition of Alaska Airlines, Skywest Airlines can offer travelers a wide variety of choices when planning their trip.

Thus, you would need to log onto the website of the partner airline, not the Skywest site, when you need information about future travel on Skywest Airlines or in the event you wish to check in online. Say you have purchased a ticket on Skywest Airlines; however, Skywest is making the flight in lieu of Delta Airlines, one of its partners. In that case, any information you need and your online check in would be handled by Delta Airlines. The same situation holds true if you need to contact Customer Service for any reason. Some examples are if you need updated flight information or you must make changes to your flight itinerary.


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