Business flyers find Wi-Fi more important than food

Frequent business travellers believe that Wi-Fi connectivity is more important than basic needs such as food.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of frequent flyers said that Wi-Fi was the most important need in an airport, which outscored other basic requirements like food by more than 30 per cent

This was according to a survey by HP and American Airlines, which looked at 1,582 respondents who had taken more than 20 trips a year on three or more airlines.

More than 90 per cent of those surveyed were using a laptop and a phone, and if inflight Wi-Fi was enabled, around 70 per cent would use their laptop as the primary device for working - a much bigger percentage than the 20 per cent who would use phones.

While some European airlines such as Ryanair are allowing flyers to use mobile phones during flights - which IT PRO readers weren't particularly happy with - the survey suggests that Wi-Fi could be a more useful option for business travellers.

However, the poll also found that business travellers found it difficult to work on a plane, as only around half of those surveyed did so compared with the 85 per cent who worked at the airport – although this could partly be due to the lack of connectivity.

Flyers were also unhappy with the lack of power, with around 68 per cent stating that a dead battery or a place to plug in were their biggest complaints.

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