The Best Apps Offer A Credit Card Comparison Tool And More

Award Wallet

Award Wallet is a service that lets you add all of your transferable points programs, airline frequent flier accounts and hotel rewards programs to one convenient dashboard. It does for your points programs what Mint does for your financial accounts. All of your user ID’s and passwords are securely stored in one place and you can log on at any time that you want and update all of your accounts with the click of just one button.

Before I found Award Wallet, I used an Excel spreadsheet to track my 30+ points earning programs, boy was that a pain! Now I get weekly e-mails that let me know which balances went up, which went down and if I have any rewards like free nights or flights set to expire. Award Wallet does offer a paid option but the free version should be more than adequate for the average points traveler.

TripIt

TripIt is a great app for managing all of your travel plans. After you set up e-mail forwarding, it will automatically import any travel confirmations onto your TripIt dashboard and it can group flights and hotels under the same trip. That way, you can see your entire itinerary in one convenient place.

TripIt Pro is available for free to Barclaycard holders but the free version still provides flight alerts and check-in notifications via text and e-mail. Now you won’t have to constantly check the big boards or rely on airline’s notification systems for flight information.

Expert Flyer Credit Card Comparison Tool

Expert Flyer is a collection of tools that are every frequent flyer’s dream. It offers the option to search for award and upgrade availability on some airlines, flight status, seat maps and the ability to set up e-mail alerts when specific seats open up. You do have to pay for their premium services but it should pay for itself and more if you’re able to land just one upgrade using it.

I primarily use it to search for award bookings and get e-mail notifications when business class seats open up on American Airlines. It isn’t available for every airline though so you’ll have to decide if the monthly subscription fits your needs.

Seat Guru

When I first started flying, it was always a challenge to figure out which seats on the plane were the best ones. Most of the time I just ended up picking a window somewhere near the front and hoped for the best. But all that changed once I found Seat Guru.

Seat Guru combines passenger reviews with detailed seat maps in order to give you insight into where the best seats on the plane are located. I wouldn’t even consider booking a ticket without checking Seat Guru first since it can notify you to non-reclining seats, no storage space, etc. Additionally, you can also check on business and first class configurations to see if it’s worth it to upgrade your seat.

Lounge Buddy

Lounge Buddy is one of my favorite apps right now because it saves me a ton of time. I used to have to research every lounge available at airports that I’d be flying through. But now, I just enter my flight itinerary and Lounge Buddy lets me know about all of the lounges I have access.