A Few More Apps That Are Actually Worth It
A few of the links below are referral or affiliate links. If you sign up through one, I may earn a small reward or discount at no extra cost to you. I only share things I actually use and would recommend anyway.
I already wrote up the full list of apps I lean on as a frequent flyer. These four didn't make that post shorter, they made it longer, so I'm giving them their own space instead. What they have in common isn't travel, it's that I can point to a real, specific payoff for each one instead of just a vague "it's nice."
FlightConnections, Because Guessing Routes Wastes Real Time
The free version of FlightConnections already answers "does a direct flight exist between these two airports," which is more than most people ever need. Premium is the version I actually pay for, because it answers the harder question: which airlines fly a given route, how often, and whether it holds up across a whole season, not just today. When you're building a standby itinerary across more than one airline, that's the difference between a plan and a guess.
Monarch, Because I Stopped Guessing What I Actually Spend
I used to have a rough mental number for what I spent each month, and it was wrong in the way rough mental numbers usually are: too low. Monarch pulls every account into one place and shows the real number instead, along with a net worth trend that actually updates. It's the app that made me change real habits, not just track them. That link gets you 50% off your first year, a $50 value, if you want to see your own real number.
Sumizeit, Because Not Every Book Needs Two Weeks
Sumizeit turns a book into a well-produced audio summary you can get through on one long layover instead of never actually finishing the real thing. It's not a replacement for reading a book you're genuinely into, it's a way to actually get the core of ten books you were never going to finish anyway. They're currently running a full year of Premium free through that link.
Capital One Shopping, Because It Runs Without Me Thinking About It
This is the one on this list I forget is even running. Capital One Shopping checks for coupons and cashback automatically at checkout, no extra step on my part. I've earned over $632 through it in about a year of doing nothing differently. That's the kind of recommendation that's easy to be skeptical of until you actually look at your own total.
None of these are sponsored roundups dressed up as a personal list. They're the ones I kept opening after trying a lot of alternatives, same as everything else on this blog.