When people plan a trip to a new city, they spend hours looking up the best places to eat, stay, and visit. But more people would have a better overall travel experience if they spent as much time researching the airports that they travel through as thoroughly as the cities they plan to visit. Enter Airports by TravelNerd, a travel app developed by NerdWallet.

What is it and what does it do

Main Functionality

Airports by TravelNerd is a near-comprehensive guide to the major airports of the world. It includes airport maps, as well as information about terminals, food options, ground transportation, shopping, parking, and amenities.

Pros

• Tracks flight info, as well as providing general airport info
• Search for airport info by name, city, or airport code
• International and domestic airport info available
• Information is available for disabled travelers as to bathroom locations, access ramps, drop-off zones, service animal relaxation areas, and more
• Great tool for finding restaurant or shopping options during a layover
• List of black car services for some regional areas

Cons

• Not every restaurant or food kiosk includes a phone number or menu for your review
• Some notable airports are missing, even in larger cities (one example I found was an airport in Billings, Montana)
• Only relates info for about 50 of the most popular airports worldwide
• Links to coupons for airport parking do not include all options, and are sometimes presented in an order that doesn’t make sense (ie not listed in ascending distance from the airport)

Discussion

I can’t tell you how many times I have been frustrated when I try to find pertinent information on an airport website. Finding the right terminal, or a place that will be serving food to passengers before a red-eye flight, is a constant travel headache.

Airports by TravelNerd may only cover about 50 of the most popular airports worldwide, but the information provided is fairly comprehensive for those airports. You can also get customized directions to popular destinations from 20 airports (for example, directions from JFK to Manhattan, or from SBO to Union Square.)

For mother traveling with kids, or disabled travelers flying with service animals, this is an indispensable travel app, loaded with excellent information about play areas for children, or access areas for the disabled. There’s also a great listing of lounges for travelers to relax in.

Conclusion and download link

If you take a few minutes to review the helpful information in this travel app, you’ll find that your next trip to the airport will go a lot more smoothly. Whether you’re going on a trip or just dropping off a friend, Aiports by TravelNerd is an indispensable travel app to keep things organized. By combining solid info with a flight tracker, this app is a one-size-fits-all air travel solution. I have no doubt that this relatively new app will only get more comprehensive and useful as it gets more updates.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.1

Requires iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, iOS version 5.0 or later

Download size: 3.1 MB

Airports by TravelNerd on Apple App Store