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.