TripIt Guide 2026: Features, Tips & Best Alternatives

TripIt has earned its reputation as the best travel itinerary app for good reason. Nearly 20 million travelers trust it to organize their trips, and the core experience remains unmatched: forward a confirmation email, and TripIt builds your itinerary automatically.

If you’re searching for a TripIt alternative, you probably already know how good TripIt is. Maybe you have a specific frustration, or you’re curious whether something better exists. This guide covers everything TripIt does well, how to get the most from it, and what alternatives exist for the features TripIt doesn’t offer—including AI calendar assistants that handle travel alongside everything else on your schedule.

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Why TripIt Remains the Gold Standard

TripIt launched in 2006 and has refined its approach for nearly two decades. While other travel apps come and go (RIP TripCase, which shut down in April 2025), TripIt keeps delivering the core experience travelers need.

The magic is simplicity. Forward any travel confirmation to plans@tripit.com, and TripIt creates a clean, organized itinerary. No copying and pasting. No manual data entry. No switching between apps to piece together your trip.

TripIt handles flights, hotels, rental cars, restaurant reservations, concert tickets, and tours. It understands confirmation emails from major airlines, hotel chains, booking platforms, and countless smaller providers. The parsing engine has had years to learn every email format imaginable.

The Email Forwarding Experience

Email forwarding is where TripIt shines brightest. Here’s what happens when you forward a confirmation:

1. TripIt receives your email within seconds
2. The parsing engine extracts flight numbers, times, confirmation codes, addresses, and contact info
3. Your itinerary updates with all the details organized by date and time
4. Calendar sync pushes the events to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook

The experience feels like magic the first time you use it. Forward your flight confirmation, hotel booking, and rental car reservation. Within minutes, you have a complete trip itinerary without touching a single form field.

TripIt also offers Inbox Sync for travelers who want automatic imports. Connect your Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo account, and TripIt monitors incoming emails for travel confirmations. No forwarding required. Bookings appear in your itinerary automatically.

What TripIt Parses Best

TripIt excels at parsing confirmations from:

Airlines: Delta, United, American, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, and virtually every major carrier worldwide. International airlines like Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates, and Qantas work seamlessly.

Hotels: Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Best Western, boutique hotels, and Airbnb reservations. TripIt extracts check-in times, addresses, confirmation numbers, and contact details.

Rental Cars: Hertz, Enterprise, National, Avis, Budget, and smaller agencies. Pick-up and drop-off times, locations, and confirmation codes all populate correctly.

Restaurants: OpenTable reservations, Resy bookings, and direct restaurant confirmations. Party size, time, and location are captured.

Events: Concert tickets from Ticketmaster, sports events, theater reservations, and tour bookings. TripIt adds these to your timeline so you see your complete trip at a glance.

Trains: Amtrak, Eurostar, and international rail confirmations. Station names, departure times, and seat assignments are parsed accurately.

The Master Itinerary View

Once your confirmations are in TripIt, the master itinerary view shows everything in chronological order. You see your entire trip laid out:

• Flight departure and arrival times with terminal and gate info
• Hotel check-in and check-out dates with addresses
• Rental car pick-up and drop-off with location details
• Dinner reservations slotted between activities
• Event tickets with venue addresses and start times

This single view eliminates the scramble of searching through emails to find your hotel address or flight time. Everything lives in one place, accessible offline when you’re traveling without data.

TripIt also generates shareable links. Send your itinerary to family members, colleagues, or travel companions. They see your complete trip without needing a TripIt account.

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TripIt Free vs TripIt Pro: Which Do You Need?

TripIt offers a generous free tier that covers the essentials. TripIt Pro costs $49 per year and adds features for frequent travelers.

TripIt Free Includes

• Email forwarding to plans@tripit.com
• Inbox Sync for automatic email import
• Calendar sync to Google, Apple, or Outlook
• Master itinerary view with all trip details
• Offline access to your itineraries
• Shareable trip links
• Flight status updates (basic)
• Maps and directions to your destinations

For casual travelers taking a few trips per year, free TripIt handles everything you need. The core functionality, forward email to calendar sync, works without paying a cent.

TripIt Pro Adds

• Real-time flight alerts: Gate changes, delays, and cancellations pushed to your phone instantly
• Seat tracking: Notification when better seats become available on your flight
• Fare refund alerts: Know when your ticket price drops and you’re owed money
• Alternate flight finder: See options when your flight is delayed or cancelled
• Neighborhood safety scores: Understand the areas around your hotel
• Synced travel plans: Share live trip updates with designated contacts
• VIP travel support: Priority customer service

The Pro features matter most for frequent flyers. If you travel monthly for business, real-time alerts and alternate flight suggestions save time and reduce stress. The $49 annual cost pays for itself the first time you catch a gate change before the airport announces it.

Casual travelers can skip Pro. The free features cover trip organization, calendar sync, and basic flight status. You’ll survive without seat tracking and fare alerts.

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Getting the Most From TripIt

Power users squeeze extra value from TripIt with these techniques.

Optimize Your Email Forwarding

Forward confirmations as soon as you receive them. TripIt processes emails within minutes, so your itinerary stays current. Waiting until the week before your trip means scrambling to forward a dozen emails at once.

Use a dedicated forwarding rule in your email. Set up a filter that automatically forwards any email from airline, hotel, or booking domains to plans@tripit.com. Your itinerary builds itself without manual forwarding.

When TripIt misparses an email, you can edit the details manually. Open the trip, tap the problematic item, and correct any errors. TripIt learns from common email formats, but unusual confirmations sometimes need manual adjustment.

Calendar Sync Best Practices

TripIt offers two calendar sync methods: calendar feed and direct sync.

Calendar feed generates a URL you subscribe to in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook. The calendar app periodically fetches updates from TripIt. This method works universally but can delay updates by 15 minutes to 24 hours depending on how often your calendar app refreshes.

Direct sync (available for some calendar providers) pushes changes immediately. If your calendar supports direct sync, use it for faster updates.

For Google Calendar users: force a refresh by unsubscribing and resubscribing to the calendar feed. This pulls the latest changes immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled refresh.

Create a dedicated calendar for TripIt events. Color it distinctively so travel items stand out from work meetings and personal appointments. This visual separation makes your calendar more scannable.

Organize Multiple Trips

TripIt automatically groups confirmations into trips based on dates and destinations. Sometimes it creates separate trips when you want them combined, or merges trips that should stay separate.

Manually adjust trip groupings in the app. Drag confirmations between trips or merge trips that belong together. Name your trips descriptively: “NYC Client Visit March 2026” is more useful than “New York Trip.”

Archive completed trips to keep your active view clean. TripIt stores your travel history indefinitely, so you can reference past itineraries when needed.

Sharing and Collaboration

TripIt’s sharing features help coordinate group travel. Generate a shareable link for your itinerary and send it to travel companions. They see your plans without needing the app.

For business travel, share your itinerary with your executive assistant or travel coordinator. They can monitor your trip and make arrangements around your schedule.

TripIt Pro’s “Inner Circle” feature lets you designate contacts who automatically receive your trip updates. Family members can track your travel without asking for updates.

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Common TripIt Frustrations (And How to Fix Them)

Even TripIt loyalists encounter occasional frustrations. Here’s how to handle the most common issues:

Issue	Fix
Calendar sync delays	Use direct sync if available. For calendar feeds, manually refresh by resubscribing.
Email parsing errors	Edit details manually in the app, or forward the email again.
Duplicate entries	Delete duplicates manually. If using Inbox Sync, disable manual forwarding for the same accounts.
Missing confirmation codes	Open the itinerary item and add missing details manually.
Pro features not worth $49	Stick with free TripIt unless you fly frequently enough to use seat tracking and fare alerts.

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When TripIt Isn’t Enough

TripIt dominates travel organization, but it has intentional limitations. Understanding these helps you decide if you need a TripIt alternative for specific use cases.

TripIt Only Handles Travel

TripIt ignores non-travel emails. Forward a client meeting request, and nothing happens. Send a conference schedule, and TripIt doesn’t parse it.

This focus is intentional. TripIt does one thing extremely well rather than trying to be everything. But if you want one app for all calendar management, TripIt isn’t designed for that. Tools like Carly use the same email-forwarding approach but apply it to your entire calendar—not just travel.

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TripIt Alternatives Worth Considering

If TripIt’s limitations affect your workflow, a few alternatives address specific gaps.

Wanderlog: Best for Trip Planning with Friends

Wanderlog adds collaborative planning that TripIt lacks. Multiple travelers can contribute to the same itinerary, add destinations to a shared map, and discuss options within the app. The free tier is generous, with Wanderlog Pro at $59.99/year for additional features.

Wanderlog parses email confirmations like TripIt, though the parsing is less mature. For travelers who value collaboration over parsing accuracy, Wanderlog fills a gap TripIt doesn’t address.

Tripsy: Best for Apple Users

Tripsy delivers a beautiful iOS experience with deep Apple ecosystem integration. Apple Watch support, Siri shortcuts, and native Apple Calendar sync feel polished. At $50/year with no free tier, Tripsy targets users willing to pay for premium design.

The limitation: no Android app exists. Tripsy is exclusively for Apple users.

Folio Wallet: Best for Document Storage

Folio Wallet emphasizes travel document storage alongside itinerary management. Upload passport photos, visa copies, insurance cards, and vaccination records. Everything travels with you in one secure app.

For travelers whose primary frustration is document organization rather than itinerary parsing, Folio addresses what TripIt deliberately excludes.

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Beyond Travel: When You Need More Than a Travel Itinerary App

Some travelers searching for a TripIt alternative don’t actually need a different travel app. They need broader calendar management that includes travel.

Carly AI takes the email-forwarding concept and extends it beyond travel. Forward a flight confirmation, and Carly adds it to your calendar. Forward a client meeting request, and Carly handles that too. Forward a newsletter with event dates, and Carly extracts them all.

The difference: TripIt is a travel itinerary app. Carly is a calendar assistant that happens to handle travel alongside everything else.

For travelers who also manage busy work calendars, client meetings, and personal appointments, this unified approach eliminates the need for separate apps. You can see everything Carly handles beyond travel organization.

Carly also processes screenshots and photos. Snap a picture of a conference schedule or travel itinerary, and Carly extracts every event. This handles the PDFs and images that email parsing can’t touch.

The trade-off: Carly doesn’t offer TripIt Pro’s flight-specific features like seat tracking and fare alerts. If those matter, TripIt Pro remains the better choice for travel. But if you want one solution for your entire calendar, an AI calendar assistant offers a different approach.

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Conclusion

TripIt earned its reputation as the best travel itinerary app by doing one thing exceptionally well: turning confirmation emails into organized trip itineraries. After nearly two decades, the core experience remains unmatched.

For most travelers, TripIt handles everything you need. The free tier covers email forwarding, calendar sync, and master itinerary views. TripIt Pro adds value for frequent flyers who benefit from real-time alerts and seat tracking.

If you’re searching for a TripIt alternative, first identify your specific frustration. For collaborative planning, try Wanderlog. For Apple-native design, consider Tripsy. For document storage, explore Folio Wallet. For calendar management beyond travel, an AI assistant like Carly offers a unified approach.

But for pure travel organization? TripIt is still the one to beat.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is TripIt still free in 2026?

Yes. TripIt offers a generous free tier that includes email forwarding, Inbox Sync, calendar sync, and master itinerary views. TripIt Pro costs $49/year and adds real-time flight alerts, seat tracking, and fare refund notifications.

How do I forward emails to TripIt?

Forward any travel confirmation to plans@tripit.com. TripIt parses the email and adds the details to your itinerary within minutes. Alternatively, enable Inbox Sync to automatically import confirmations from your email account.

Why isn’t TripIt syncing to my calendar?

TripIt uses calendar feed URLs that refresh on your calendar app’s schedule, not instantly. Google Calendar may take 15 minutes to 24 hours to fetch updates. Force a refresh by unsubscribing and resubscribing to the TripIt calendar feed.

What’s the best TripIt alternative for collaborative trip planning?

Wanderlog offers the best collaborative features. Multiple travelers can edit the same itinerary, add destinations to a shared map, and discuss plans within the app. TripIt focuses on individual travel organization rather than group planning.

Can I use TripIt for non-travel events?

No. TripIt specifically handles travel confirmations: flights, hotels, rental cars, restaurants, and events. It ignores non-travel emails. For broader calendar management including meetings and appointments, consider an AI calendar assistant like Carly.