When was the last time you booked a flight?

Did you have to carry pages of documentation to keep your itinerary in order?

Did you ever wish you had written that phone number down to that little Bed and Breakfast so you could call them and tell them you would be late?

Enter Skip. Skip is a website that provides users the opportunity to create trip itineraries and make them available for viewing via their Treo (and other mobile phones). Skip has been tested and already confirmed to work on the Treo 600 and 650. I, however, have a Treo 700p.

After creating a login and password I jumped into creating an itinerary. I like things to be intuitive, and the first attempts at setting up my flights were a bit frustrating. Of course, had I found Skip before making any flight arrangements, I would have known that I could push all of my confirmation information directly to Skip from Travelocity via email! The following diagram gives you a pretty good idea how all of this information works together.

The software to use Skip on your Treo is an “Over the air” installation. Instructions for the download and installation are located here. Install was fast and easy.

During my first attempt at creating an itinerary, I found that the airport I had planned to leave from was not listed in the database. As Skip is still in Beta, it always helps when others try things out and find the bugs to fix. A quick message on the forums and my problem was fixed. The folks working on Skip are very prompt in making adjustments as bugs are found.

Once my itinerary was completed, I performed a sync to the Skip server from my phone. What do you know? It was all there! But wait… why did my return flight also show as my original departure flight?

Beta as it is, the program did not recognize that I had made an error in my original flight schedule. My original (and correct schedule) should have shown that the first flight was at 9 pm, with a connection flight in another city at 6 am. In my zest to enter all my flight information, I had entered the same date for both flights. Duh… the 6 am flight was obviously the next day. This simple error really confused Skip. Once again, a quick note to tech support and the problem was corrected.

Using Skip on your Treo is very easy. I found that the itinerary would sync in a matter of seconds. Navigating the program does not require much input. I did find that I needed to use my stylus to access detailed information. I have suggested that Skip consider adding the 5-way pad to navigate within the program. It would be nice to only have to use one hand to get detailed information.

This is the screen you will be brought to after syncing your phone with the Skip server. Your itinerary is broken down by time and date for quick review. Tapping on an itinerary selects it for further options. At the bottom of the screen, an “Item Actions” button allows you to review your itinerary in further detail (that you set up on the web site). You also have the opportunity to obtain “Travel Support.” Travel support is the phone number for the airline, car rental, hotel, etc., that is listed in the itinerary.

This (to the right) is the detailed information view. All of the information in the white screen is either automatically imported by the travel site and/or entered by you. I found that the font was a bit small to look at when hustling through an airport. I suggested to the developer to consider font size options.

Overall I found Skip to be a good program. A few adjustments by the developer could make it much better. But then again, isn’t that what Beta testing is for?

If you travel a lot, take a look at Skip. You might just have a new favorite for your Treo.

Related Links

Get Skip from GoSkip.

Explore other scheduling solutions.

Filed under: Software reviews