My last blog classified people as “Starters” or “Finishers”. People can also be classified as “Stackers” vs. “Spreaders” (when putting stuff on a counter) as well as “Complicators” vs. “Simplifiers” (for just about everything). I like to think of myself as a Simplifier (or more accurately a “Stacker”, “Simplifier” and “Finisher”). But this week I want to talk about what should be a very simple task; checking in for an airline flight. 

I fly less than some and more than others. Enough to know that it’s not at all glamorous. During a recent trip to visit my parents I encountered a few Tech Frustrations.

• Online check-in processes
  These need to be streamlined! Advertising makes online check-in as frustrating as reading a “click-bait” article. Most people are probably like me and just want to pick a seat, understand the pricing and options for checking a bag, and obtain a boarding pass.  (I never want to upgrade my seat, rent a car, add a hotel, or purchase travel insurance.  If I did want to do even one of those things, I'd have done it way before I was checking in for the flight.)
• United Airlines app
  This is pretty slick. I think I should have used it, instead of a PC, to check-in and will try that next time.  I have now bonded with electronic boarding passes (via the app).
• Frontier Airlines app
  This is not so user friendly. A 6-character confirmation code is required to obtain an electronic boarding pass, and it isn’t provided by the app (as far as I can tell). And … once I obtained the boarding pass, the app wouldn’t save it overnight. (On an unrelated happy note, Frontier finally offers TSA Pre-check.)
• Waze
  This navigation app ensured I made my flight by detecting an accident on the highway mid-route and redirecting me to bypass the near standstill on the Interstate.

 
Between enduring travel experiences, I had a great time with my parents. Except for a fleeting moment in a restaurant when a waiter assumed I was my dad’s … wife! Next week I’ll be reporting on Tech Frustrations associated with Botox injections and other anti-aging procedures ;)
 
What technology do you use to ease the travel process?  

It seems to me that most people can be classified as either a “Starter” or a “Finisher”. By this I mean that people tend to either be more comfortable starting new things or finishing them. Or maybe it’s just that I am a Finisher married to a Starter. 
 
I like to finish things! Most nights I stay up late trying to finish something, while my husband often wakes up early to start something. If you ask me, he may start a few too many things; more than he can finish. And if you ask him, he’d probably say that I am reluctant to start things or don’t know when to “let it go”. He’s probably right. But I say, why start something new when there are so many things left to finish? The good news is that we balance each other out.
 
In addition to being a Finisher, I’m literally one of the most directionally challenged people I know. (And I don’t mean that "new" definition of literally, which means figuratively. That’s literally the craziest thing I’ve ever heard ;) Most who know me compensate for my navigational shortcomings which only means that my ability to find my way around keeps getting worse and worse. To keep things interesting, I have a false sense of confidence regarding my sense of direction. It's really weird. Thank goodness for GPS technology. 
 
My biggest gripe about my GPS was, until recently, the fact that it was so slow. So, so slow. My family helped me realize that the GPS was slow because my phone was old. So I took the bold move to buy a new smart phone; a big step for a Finisher because it still worked. To provide a perspective on the slowness of my GPS, I found the AT&T store by driving around town. The GPS didn’t locate the store until I was pulling into a parking space.  So I guess I really was ready for a new phone.
 
I bought a Samsung Galaxy on Amazon and have been getting it all set up. I like it, and boy is it fast. The functionality that was on my old phone is now on the new phone, and I even added a few new things. Maybe you’ll find some of them interesting, and maybe some of them will help you avoid some Tech Frustrations.

• Fingerprint Access - The phone enables me to unlock it with a thumbprint or a pin number. I set both up, and at first the thumbprint was unreliable and more trouble than it was worth. I was even being forced to wait 30 seconds before trying either again. The other night I found the setting that enabled me to re-enter my thumbprint (they call it something like “add a fingerprint”), and now it works really well. In hindsight I’m guessing that the first time I entered my thumbprint I’d just put lotion on my hands. Don’t do that to avoid Tech Frustrations :)
• Bill Pay - I’ve used online banking for years, but never via my cell phone. After adding my credit union’s app to the phone, I used it to pay a few bills. Whoa! That is slick and a lot faster than using a PC. The app also enables access via my thumbprint which is cool and fast. Let me know if there are other online banking/finance apps that you use and like.
• OfferUp - This slick app is like a melding of Craig's List and Pinterest.  It's optimized for your phone and lets you go from photo to "Offer Up" listing (for sale or to give away) in a matter of minutes. I continue to have the most luck with Craig's List, but find the OfferUp experience so enjoyable. I sure hope it takes off. (I also use TrashNothing! and Freecycle in my quest to avoid personal use of the local landfill whenever possible.)
• HP 12C Calculator – The HP 12C calculator app I had on my old phone is no longer available.  So I was happy to find the free app “Touch Fin free” from epxx.co which works fine. If you’re over 30 and not used to RPN, you probably won’t want this app. But if you came of age using an HP calculator, you may appreciate it.
• Springpad – I continue to mourn the loss of my all-time favorite app, Springpad. It was discontinued almost three years ago, and I’ve yet to find even a collection of apps to replace it. The user interface was beautiful and the functionality robust. I include it in this list because I dream of the day I find out that it has been resurrected with a new name or maybe that the source code has been Open Sourced. As I recall there were >5M users, but the company was unable to monetize the app. Let me know if you’ve found it or know of a suitable replacement. (Evernote just doesn’t cut it for me.) 

 
That’s what I’ve finished this week.  (And in the meantime, my husband has started about eight new projects ;)