January 12, 2022
It’s quite possible you’re rusty on the airport thing after two years of sitting at home and going on road trips. Before you head back to the airport, put technology to work for you with these apps, relevant to traveling, airport terminals, and your travel experience. And have a great trip!
Getting ready
FlySEA App
Launched on the iOS and Android platforms, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's (SEA) app puts an airport directory right in your pocket. The allow helps you:
- Check the wait times at TSA Security checkpoints before you leave
- Get travel alerts
- Learn more about the art you see at the airport
- Navigate the airport by searching for places like Airline Clubs and lounges, restaurants, the meditation room, or your favorite retailer; find where you are using the blue dot; and get the walk time to the closest coffee bar or your gate
- Track arriving and departing flights, verify the boarding gate, and check to see if it’s on time
- Capture a photo of your car, and the floor, row, and space number so you can find it when you return with fuzzy vacation brain
- Order food from selected airport restaurants and have it delivered to your gate
- Book Pre-booked Parking before you leave home
- Learn about Accessible travel at SEA Airport
Price: Free
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Check & Fly Airport Health Measures
The Check & Fly app by the Airports Council International (the global association of the world’s airports) will help you stay up to date with airports’ response to COVID-19 and the health and safety measures that are helping to keep travelers safe. Check the COVID requirements at your departure and destination airports.
Price: Free
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SEA Spot Saver
What’s better than waiting in line at the airport? Soooooo many things, like shopping, wandering, getting your steps in, stretching out, making a phone call to your loved ones, and reading a magazine. You told us you wanted to skip the lines at the airport and a more efficient screening experience without the extra cost of other trusted traveler programs. This is technically a website, not an app, but it will have a big (positive) impact on your airport experience.
Reserve your spot in line at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with SEA Spot Saver. It's free and easy!
Passengers from any airline can use SEA Spot Saver at TSA Checkpoints 2, 3, and 5! Program hours are between 4:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Spots are limited so sign up 72 hours before your flight.
Price: Free
TripIt Travel Planner
Is heading on vacation too much for your weary brain with a million emails, hotel confirmations, and airline itineraries? Keep it all in one place with the TripIt app so you can relax and focus on the fun (or the business). Forward all the confirmation emails you receive to a TripIt email and it automatically creates a master itinerary. It will keep you updated on departure and gate changes, sync to your calendar, and allow you to upload documents to keep it all together.
Price: Free with paid upgrades
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Packpoint
Are you a chronic overpacker? (guilty) Tend to forget your charger (often)? Hand over the planning to this app. You select your destination, length of your trip, and activities, and PackPoint will create a custom packing list with a shareable link for your fellow travelers.
Price: $2.99 for basic with premium upgrades available
At the airport
OrderSEA
Enjoy eats from all over the airport without leaving your concourse or standing in line. This mobile food ordering service helps you order food, pay from your phone, and choose pickup to where you are. Your food gets delivered to where you are, sometimes by a robot!
To place your order,
- Open the FlySEA app
- Go to Dining & Retail
- Click the “food” label on the top navigation; the participating restaurants are marked with an OrderSEA logo
- Place your order
- Start your trip with a good meal
Price: Service is free; food prices as listed on the menu
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LiveATC
Hear what’s happening in the stratosphere and conversations between air traffic controllers and pilots at airports around the world. The LiveATC network is the world's largest network of streaming audio feeds focused solely on aviation communications. It includes more than 1,200 airports around the world with almost 3,000 different audio feeds.
Price: $3.99
Mobile Passport by Airside
Called “the best-kept secret in air travel” by the Washington Post, this app helps you streamline your entrance into the country at major U.S. airports and cruise ports. More than nine million people use the app to securely submit passports and CBP questions and access designated lanes in the inspection area.
Price: The base app is free, but you can purchase the Mobile Passport plus service ($14.99/year or $4.99/month) with features to digitally scan and store passports and keep a record of your trip history.
MyTSA
This app provides 24/7 answers to most common questions to the Transportation Security Administration.
With “MyTSA”, you can:
- Find out allowed items at the checkpoint and on the airplane
- Request live assistance from TSA through social media
- Check crowd-sourced TSA security checkpoint wait times at any airport
- Look up delays and current weather conditions at any airport
- Read tips on getting through security quickly
- Discover which airports and airlines support TSA PreCheck®, and learn how to sign up
Price: free
PriorityPass
Need some snacks, a cocktail, and some peace and quiet? With a PriorityPass membership (annual fee starts at $99), you can search for more than 1,300 lounges in 500 cities around the world, get tips in each airport, and access an airport guide.
Price: App is free. Cost of an annual membership starts at $99
On Your Way
FlightRadar24
Live plane and flight tracker to monitor the arrival of that person you just can’t wait to see. Or point your device at a plane to find out where it’s going and what kind of aircraft it is.
You can
- Watch real-time air traffic around the world
- Point your phone at a plane to identify its route and type of aircraft
- For a specific airport, monitor arrival and departure boards, get status updates, check delays, and get detailed weather reports
- Track a flight by number, airport, or airline
Price: The free app includes all the above features. Two upgrade options are available for enhanced history and performance.
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Timeshifter: The Jet Lag App
There may be a few super humans who don’t (say, for instance) fall asleep in a dark theater watching Edward Scissorhands: the Musical (I wasn't snoring, you're snoring) the first night after crossing 14 time zones. But for the rest of us mere mortals, this app helps you plan to avoid jetlag. Timeshifter was built by scientists and is used by CEOs, astronauts, road warriors, and elite athletes. It takes less than a minute to create a plan and provides advice that is easy to follow in the “real world.” You can start preparing to minimize jet before you leave, and get on the ground tips. And the app works across all time zones, inflight, and offline.
Learn more
Price:
Try the first jetlag plan for free; plans after that are $9.99. Unlimited plan is $25 per year. Or companies can buy subscriptions for their traveling employees.
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Splitwise
Traveling with somebody that you don’t share a bank account with? This app helps friends track traveling expenses (I buy this meal, you buy the next?) and ensure that it all comes out even. I used it to track my crawfish, hurricanes, AirBNB, and shared New Orleans gourmand expenditures. And we all returned home well-fed with our friendship intact.
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Wheelmap
A global map of wheelchair accessible places with information provided by fellow travelers. Users can find and rate wheelchair accessible places – worldwide and free of charge. There are more than two million wheelchair-accessible restaurants, cafes, toilets, shops, movie theaters, parking lots, and bus stops and more. In 32 different languages, no less.
The top 10 countries with the highest number of rated places are: Germany (582,174), United States (277,194), India (258,992), France (161,486), South Africa (74,568), Canada (57,247), Czech Republic (53,888) United Kingdom (53,718), Austria (52,253), Italy (40,256).
Price: Free
