Hipmunk is a free service that gives you a list of available flights between locations on a particular date so that you can find the flight that works best for your trip. But unlike other similar websites that can be hard to navigate and are so full of advertisements that they make you want to scream, the Hipmunk interface is clear and full of useful tools. Ever since Hipmunk launched in August of 2010, it has been one of my favorite websites to use on my computer.
Earlier this year, Hipmunk released an iPhone app. It is very useful, but because the main advantage of Hipmunk is its great layout, I still preferred using Hipmunk on the larger screen of a computer. A few weeks ago, Hipmunk released an iPad app, and it is a joy to use.
When you launch the app you simply enter where you are going to and from (which is quick after you have used the app a few times because you can just tap from a list of recent cities) and the dates (which is also simple, just tap dates on a pop-up calendar).
After a few moments, you then see details on the first leg of the flight. By default, the app (like the website) uses the "Agony" option to list what are likely to be the most pleasant options (direct flights, no tight connections, good price). The site seems to include all airlines except for Southwest (which has restrictions on using third party websites), and thus gives you a good overview of your travel options on different airlines.
The best feature of Hipmunk is the colorful bars, which allows you to easily see the overall length of the flight and, for non-direct flights, the amount of time for the layover and the place of the layover.
I like that the app starts with the Agony option so I can get a sense of the best options, but I usually next sort by departure time to find the flight that best fits my schedule. If you don't want to see flights before or after a certain time, just slide the tabs at the top. You can also sort by price and by total length of the flight.
To get additional information, just tap on a flight. A pop-up window will give you all of the key information about the flight.
If you select an outgoing leg for your trip, then when you tap the tab at the top to see options for the return you will only see options on the same airline. If you don't select an outgoing leg, then all possible return options will be displayed.
Once you have both legs selected, the app gives you several ways to book the trip. If you want to book on your iPad, just tap a button to launch the airline website. You can also send yourself the details in an e-mail. Or if you want to book on your computer, the app provides you an address to type in to your browser and a phrase to recreate the travel itinerary you created on the iPad.
If you book a flight on an airline website, the airline gives Hipmunk a few bucks as a commission, but it doesn't cost you anything extra. And of course, if you don't want to help out the fine folks at Hipmunk, nothing stops you from just booking the flight from scratch, taking advantage of what you learned from Hipmunk without using their links.
The iPhone app works in much the same way, although it is somewhat less useful because of the limited screen size. You can turn your iPhone to landscape mode to see even more information on each row, although I still find the bars a little tight to give you a good overview of flight time like you get on the iPad app or the website.
When you tap a flight once, you get expanded information, and then you can tap the button on the right to get the pop-up window with more information, just like the pop-up window in the iPad app.
I love seeing information on lots of different flights at the same time along a timeline. Presenting the information this way is so much more useful than what you see on a typical airline site. If you haven't tried Hipmunk before, check it out. I suspect that you will quickly become hooked.
Click here to get Hipmunk (free): 
