TripIt for groups

What TripIt does best

Keeping confirmed travel in order. Forwarded confirmations become one itinerary per trip, with maps, directions and room for PDFs, photos and boarding passes, and its App Store listing says the details are there offline. TripIt Pro, listed at $48.99 a year in the US App Store, adds real-time flight alerts, check-in reminders, fare and seat trackers and other travel alerts.

If several people in your group fly a lot, that alone is worth a look.

How TripIt shares a trip

The trip’s owner invites people by email and picks a permission for each: Can view, Can edit, or Can edit and is traveling. According to TripIt’s help centre, only people with edit access see confirmation numbers, the total cost and documents. Inner Circle, which shares your trips automatically with people you trust, is a Pro feature.

When the group is still deciding

TripIt starts from what is booked. Before that, a group has other questions: which weekend, which city, which of eight restaurant links, who covered the deposit. TripIt’s own site does not list group polls, a shared idea list or expense splitting.

Those are what a group planner is for.

What Awayfolk is built around

One shared trip for the whole group, from the first idea to the day itself. Everyone joins from one invitation link; friends can vote on ideas with just a first name, and sign in with Google or email to join. There are polls on where and when, a day plan and a map, shared and private packing lists, bookings with their times and references, and expenses split evenly or by exact amounts.

Optional Claude and ChatGPT connections can save bookings and ideas into the same trip.

Where Awayfolk is limited

Awayfolk does not read your inbox: bookings get in when someone adds them or shares a confirmation with their AI. It has no flight alerts or seat tracker, and it is a web app, not an App Store app. It records expenses and repayments but does not move money.

When TripIt is the better choice

A work trip, a trip where one person booked everything, or a group that flies often and wants real-time alerts. Then keep TripIt, and share the trip with view or edit access as needed. If the group also has to decide things together and split the costs, use a group planner for that part, and keep it to two apps.

Try one booking together

Copy an example, such as the Breckenridge ski trip, invite one friend and add one booking with its time and reference. If both of you find it on your phones, you have your answer.