Update: The Hitlist app has been discontinued and is no longer available for download. The following review has been archived to showcase the features that made it unique.
I want to discuss an app that saved you money on flights. Yeah, every flight-related app is trying to save you money on flights, and I have yet to see an app that’s trying to charge you more for flights. So, I guess the question then becomes: what made this app different besides the obvious?
Well, my friends, the devil’s in the details. This app was where travel inspiration met great deals on flights. Sound cool? Great. So, from my travel app archives, I want to show you the Hit List.
The Explorer Screen
This is the Explorer screen, where the app put together some inspirational suggestions. But before we get started, as always, a little housekeeping. On the main menu at the bottom, tap profile. On the top left, tap the person. Here, you had the option to find and follow friends on social media, add friends from your address book, and or share your personal invite link. Tap Arrow to go back.
Customizable Controls
On the top right, tap the gears button. Here’s a list of customizable controls for an even more personal experience. For example, home airport automatically chose the airport closest to your current location. For me, that’s Toronto Island (YTV), but I could also add nearby airports like Lester B. Pearson, which is YYZ. Tap Arrow to go back.
You could choose your favorite alliances and Airlines, which is good for points collecting or personal preference. What does operated by another airline mean? Porter Airlines is one of my personal favorites. Hint hint, nudge nudge, Porter Airlines, if you’re paying attention. Okay, tap Arrow to go back.
On the screen, you could also change your currency, edit your profile, get help and support, rate the app, follow Hit List on social media, etc. Tap Arrow to go back.
Your Profile and Tracking
On your profile screen, you could change your picture, check your points, see who you’re following, and who’s following you. Good old Danielle, always my biggest fan. You could also keep track of where you wanted to go, where you’ve been, and where your friends have visited.
My Hit List showed you a list of all the places you’re interested in. When you tilted the phone into landscape mode, you got a map showing you the distance from where you are to where that destination is. Tap Arrow to go back. “Where I’ve been” shows you all the places you visited before. Notice under New York it has Danielle’s picture because that’s where she’s from.
According to this app and the information I’ve logged, I’ve only seen 8% of the world. Go sheesh, I got a lot of work to do. I have to add all the other places I’ve been and make plans to visit the rest.
Exploring Destinations
Okay, back to the Explorer screen. Tap the globe on the bottom menu. You’ll notice at the top left corner it shows the airport call letters closest to your current location.
Featured list had some very specific Choice options like surreal Hitlist destinations or destinations where the dollar is strong or top spots for Summer Snow. Huh, interesting. Etc. Suggested trips offered suggestions. Most popular had your usual suspects: New York, Paris France, London, Etc.
My favorite weekend getaways which showcased places like Boston and Chicago which are close to me and, according to this, were actually looking pretty good price-wise. Awesome. If you are looking for specific fares, you might also be interested in SAS Go Light options.
Curated Travel Lists
You also had various options like explore Italy or Azores or Croatia or US or UK, Etc. Tropical getaways, James Bond film locations—awesome cuz I actually have a blog post about this. You also had spicy food spots, underrated Asia, best for photography (another one of my favorites), volcanic excursions, best party cities in the world (a third one of my favorites), and trending destinations.
Interactive Features
Okay, let’s tap something. Um, okay, this is cool. As I move the phone, the image also moves. Okay, so you could tap “I’ve been here” to add it to your list of places you’ve been to, and likewise, you could tap “I want to go to” and add it to your Hit List. You could also see which one of your friends want to go. Maybe you could have gone with them or or not. Let’s send Danielle a quick message.
Booking Your Trip
Next, we had the top three deals from Toronto to Boston for specific days. I like this one as it’s a weekend, so let’s tap it. Wait for it to update, and you have the airline info and flight. If this looked good, tap it. From here, you could choose to be reminded by tapping “remind me,” or if it’s all good, you could book it by tapping “book.”
Accommodations
What’s cool is that within the app, you could also book your hotel accommodation. Tap Hit List to go back. You could also book your Airbnb accommodation. Tap Hit List to go back. Or you could book through Booking.com. As you can see, your dates already filled in for you. Love it. And likewise with Airbnb and your hotels, the city of choice is already selected for you. Tap done to go back and tap the arrow to go back again.
Refining Your Search
Back on the Boston screen, you could see more deals by tapping “more deals,” and we could refine our search by adding some filters. Tap X to go back or tap apply filter.
You also had a graph. Now, this is interesting; it showed you what the lowest price was recorded for the year so far. In this case, it was March. I should have went March, but instead, I went to New York, so it’s all good. And again, you have a map telling you the distance and flight time. 2 hours is sweet.
Suggested App Collections
Here is a quick look at the types of collections you could find within the app:
| Collection Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Surreal Hitlist Destinations | Unique and dream-like spots. |
| Dollar is Strong | Destinations where you get value for money. |
| Summer Snow | Top spots for finding snow during summer. |
| Most Popular | The usual suspects: New York, Paris, London. |
| Weekend Getaways | Showcases places close to you with good prices. |
| Thematic Lists | James Bond locations, Spicy food spots, Volcanic excursions. |
Planning and Notifications
Next on the bottom menu is “my hit list.” This is where everything you added ended up. To add more to your Hit List, simply tap explore and build your Hit List, which would take you back to the explore screen. Or you could tap “plan a trip” to get started with creating an itinerary.
The search button allowed you to manually search for what you’re looking for. The app would still, however, give you some suggested destinations. And lastly, notifications was your dedicated screen for all your notifications.
And that’s about it. While you can no longer get the app, it was a great tool for building your own Hit List. Let me know what countries you would have wanted to add to your Hit List. Thanks for watching.