Tales from the Sky: Business Travelers on TripIt Pro

By Amanda Wowk

February 28, 2019

Each March, we celebrate Employee Appreciation Day to recognize the efforts and contributions of employees and colleagues. Of course, any day—make that every day—is a good day to appreciate employees. And that’s where company perks come in. Year-round perks reward valued employees for their hard work. Last year, business travelers shared that TripIt Pro is one of their favorite company perks because it provides information about flight cancellations, check-in reminders—and can even help find a better seat. This year, we wanted to dig deeper into the business traveler experience. So, we asked TripIt Pro users to share their experiences with us—from their favorite features to their trip-saving moments. Here’s what they had to say.  

Organization over everything

When it comes to travel, keeping all your plans in one easy to access place is a major must for business travelers—whether you fly once a year or one hundred times a year. TripIt Pro takes organization one step further by keeping you informed of changes to the details within your itineraries, like gate changes or flight delays. Organization is key to business travel success, as these savvy travelers shared: “Even the most organized people have a tough time keeping up with all of their itineraries, or spend way too much time to get it sorted out. The overall concept of everything in one place at one time is everything to me. But the ease of loading [plans to] the app by just forwarding my itinerary is what really saves me time.” - Phil D. “Keeping my travel life organized and letting me know about flight complications before the airlines do is invaluable. I travel about 200,000 kms per year on average and I could not be successful at it without TripIt.” - Dave L. Like a lot of people, I have travel anxiety. I'm always, always worried I'm going to miss a flight, or end up at the wrong hotel, or something silly like that.  What I used to do was just sort of relentlessly check my info over and over and over again, but now it's all in one spot: flight number, gate, flight duration, even when check-out is at my chosen hotel.” - Susan A. “The first thing I do when I travel is forward my plans to TripIt.  Having my frequent flier numbers at arms reach, getting alerted of last minute flight schedule changes and gate changes... TripIt has become an integrated part of my travel life.” - Varun K.    

Delays debunked

Flight delays and cancellations happen—and when they do, they can sometimes send business travelers scrambling. Thankfully, features like Alternate Flights and Flight Status Alerts have helped many users continue on their intended journey without incident. One of my favorite stories was that I was once in a taxi on the way to the airport from a client when I got a message from TripIt that my flight was cancelled. I used the “alternate flights” feature to identify a flight on a different airline that would get me home that night. Before I even got to the airport, I called the airline and they re-booked me on the alternate airline and I was able to get home at virtually the same time as my original (and cancelled flight)! I finally got notified by the airline when I was already at the airport!” - Sue H. “I absolutely love gate updates - that's saved me a ton of stress more than once. I also really appreciate alerts that let me know if my flight is on time or running late. I *always* have connections, so the "connection at risk" alert is another fave.” - Susan A. TripIt Pro  

TripIt Pro saves the day

Every business traveler knows to expect the unexpected when it comes to traveling—but that doesn’t make interruptions to travel plans any more bearable. What sets a resilient traveler apart from the rest is the tools at his or her disposal. And our users know that TripIt Pro can help turn a potentially major obstacle into just a minor hiccup. “I was inflight and connected to Wi-Fi when TripIt sent me a notification that my connecting flight had been cancelled. Since I was connected to Wi-Fi, I was able to text my wife the phone number for my corporate travel agency. She was able to call the agent and rebook me on a different flight. The agent then emailed me a boarding pass for a new flight home.  All of this happened while I was on the flight. I was able to get the plane after landing and just walk to my new connecting flight's gate with a mobile boarding pass already in hand. But if I had not received that notice from TripIt, I wouldn't have even known that my connecting flight had been cancelled until after my first flight had landed and I would have seen it on the monitors on the airport. By then, the lines at the customer service desks would have been long and getting rebooked would have been less likely. Without TripIt, I would likely have had to sleep in the airport and fly home the next day. TripIt saved me from that by giving me the early heads up!” - Rick W. “TripIt has been a life saver so many times. Last year, on my last trip of the year, I was on my way home and, thanks to TripIt, I knew how much time I had to change planes in order to catch my connection in Frankfurt and get to exactly where I needed to be. As a result, I was able to get home to see my wife and kids rather than languishing in an airport hotel.” - Dave L. “The reminder of a missing flight or hotel is very useful. Most of the time I'm completely on top of it all, but on one occasion I'd convinced myself I had it all booked until TripIt told me I was imagining things!” - Brian N.  

And a few more of our favorites...

… Just because they made us smile. I once woke up in a hotel and forgot where I was. The first thing I did was look at TripIt.” - Phil D. Showing the app to people who have not seen it before is always fun. I tell them even if you only take one trip a year TripIt will make that trip easier.” - Leslie F. “It's honestly one of the best apps I've used and one of the first things I make sure I setup on a new phone. The sense of calm I have knowing all of my travel details are easily accessible, along with local information, makes turning up in a new city that little bit more relaxing, without removing the sense of adventure. And the app has continued to evolve, being able to parse more and more types of response email from train lines, airlines and hotels. I genuinely couldn't imagine travelling without it!” - Brian N.   If your company uses SAP Concur, you might be one of the many travelers with a complimentary subscription to TripIt Pro (normally $49/year). You can visit the SAP Concur App Center to connect your accounts.