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Going onliine at American's JFK Admirals Club. Photo
courtesy of American Airlines
Raise the cry, ‘We want Wi-Fi!’ That’s the gist of a survey conducted by American Airlines and HP . More than 47% of the frequent business travelers polled say Wi-Fi was the most important amenity you can have out there on the road.
Among the other findings: bad batteries are bad things. 67.7% of frequent flyers decry dead batteries (41.4%) and no place to plug in (26.3%) as their biggest complaints. To underscore how dependent today’s road warriors are on things that beep, blip, and bequeath bundles of information, more than 90% of frequent flyers travel with notebook computer and phone in hand. Another problem: business travelers say they can work really efficiently at their hotel or the airport, but when they get on the plane, it’s another story. Work efficiency drops dramatically on-board, eating up precious productivity.
“Business travelers expect connectivity and see it as a necessity, not a luxury,” says Carol Hess-Nickels, director of marketing in HP’s Notebook Global Business Unit. American Airlines offers powerports on all its mainline (i.e., non-regional jet) aircraft – if you’re flying First of Business Class. Select rows in Economy also have them.
Although the statement AA and HP released detailing the survey doesn’t cover it, the fact is lots of flyers also prefer their Wi-Fi free, unfettered by charges. Some airports get it. They understand the last thing folks want to do is have to pay for connectivity while trying to deal with a travel environment that increasingly nickel and dimes them to death. Among the airports where Wi-Fi is free: San Jose (SJC), Charlotte (CLT), New Orleans (MSY), and Birmingham (BHM).
Don’t look for free Wi-Fi, however, at the planet’s busiest airport, however. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), prime hub for the world’s largest carrier, Delta Air Lines, doesn’t offer free connectivity. You have to head a couple of hundred miles north, along I-85, to find an airline hub that does.
The beauty of this country’s multi-hub, competitive airline set-up is that frequent flyers sometimes have choices. If they’re changing planes in the South that choice often boils down to Atlanta or Charlotte, US Airways’ southern hub. ATL charges; CLT doesn’t. That’s why Wi-Fi connectivity determines some folk’s flight plans, especially in these tough economic times.
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