New York Times Tech Tips: Travel Edition

For the second installment in our series of tech tips – courtesy of The New York Times’ resident tech-guru, David Pogue – we’re highlighting technology that eases travel.

Pogue suggests a few must-have apps and websites for travelers that take the stress out of getting there.

Here are a few of his finds:

Tripit.com is a free service that organizes all your travel documents into a convenient itinerary. Simply forward your confirmation emails for hotels, flights and car rentals to your Tripit account, and the service will record and arrange the dates, times and flight numbers. This is particularly useful for multi-destination trips, when you’re traveling between several cities and staying at a number of different hotels.

Pogue’s favorite Tripit feature?

“You can subscribe to your own Tripit feed, meaning that your computer or cellphone calendar will record those flight details automatically.”

Downloading your airline’s check-in app for your iPhone or Android is another time-saver. Open the Delta app (Pogue’s choice), click “Check In” and your boarding pass, in the form of a QR code appears, along with the gate number and seat number.

SeatGuru.com is another site designed to ease the stresses of flying. It identifies if your flight offers Wi-Fi, locates in-seat power ports and offers, in my claustrophobic opinion, the best invention to come to online flight booking – a comparison chart that shows how cramped your seat will be compared to other airlines.

Have a look at Pogue’s other useful tips. Are you planning a trip? Give these apps a whirl, and let us know how they worked for you. Or do you have a favorite app or gadget that gets you through the airport, mental-break-down-free? Tell us about it!