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Business Travelers in the Air: “Most Important Amenity” is WLAN Connection - U.S. Survey

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Singapore's Changi Airport, which is ranked high for its usability and conformability by survey with businesspersons around the world.

The results of a survey show that the most important amenity for business travelers on flights in the U.S. is a Wi-Fi (WLAN) Internet connection.

In the latest survey announced in May and conducted by California-based Hewlett-Packard (HP) in collaboration with Texas-based American Airlines, 47% of respondents answered that a Wi-Fi connection is the most important amenity while traveling, surpassing basic travel services such as meals by about 30%.

The survey, sponsored by HP, was conducted this past February via e-mail by American Airlines. The statistics are based on 1,582 respondents who are frequent travelers of the carrier that have taken more than 20 trips domestically or internationally during the past year on three or more airlines.

In addition, the most common “complaints” while traveling are “dead PC batteries” and “no place to plug in” at a combined 67.7%. Power outlets also are in high demand at the gate and onboard the flight, with 24% saying that access to “electrical power” is “the most important technology amenity aboard a plane.” Furthermore, more than 96% of respondents conduct work-related activities using the Internet at their hotels, and 85% do so at airport terminals to improve work efficiency, but this number drops to 52.6% onboard a flight. The results show that 76% percent said they take care of work-related e-mail and phone calls at the departure gate before boarding their flight, and work efficiency drops off considerably on the plane.

HPAmerican Airlines