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According to a new survey conducted by American Airlines and Hewlett-Packard, passengers are split nearly right down the middle on whether they'd prefer to fill their bellies with airline food or join the mile high WiFi club.
"We know that our business customers rely on technology to be as productive as possible while on the road," said Manuel de Oyarzabal, Director of Customer Research at American Airlines.
The survey pinged more than 1,500 frequent business travelers who take more than 20 trips a year on three or more airlines. Of them, a little more than 47 percent said WiFi was the most important airport amenity, besting their desire for food by almost 30 percentage points.
Related to the above, the survey found that not having a place to plug in and recharge a notebook ranked as the No. 1 irritant, with 24 percent indicating access to power outlets as the most important technology amenity when flying.
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linux_dork
May 26, 2009 at 9:57am
WiFi would be nice, but again - power strips are the most important. The last flight I took, I bought a bunch of tv shows on iTunes and watched them until my battery died :)
5 hour flight, 3 hour battery... grrr
marshallladd
May 25, 2009 at 9:26pm
Not having Wi-Fi on a flight I can deal with, but my biggest complaint is reflected in this article. Why are there no power strips next to the seats. If there is no Wi-Fi, at least let me plug in my laptop/mp3 player/smartphone so I can watch the movies I have on that without worrying about flight time vs. battery life. It is a simple fix, at least it seems like it would be.
This would deffinately help out the netbook market, with our 3-cell batteries. No need for a 6 or 9-cell that adds weight and impedes portability(albeit it minimally but it still does). Also keeps the netbook price point under that $400 mark, by not having to add to the battery cost.
I mean when we talk about battery life on any net/laptop, what are we talking about? Flight battery length. Where else do we go that doesn't have outlet access? Starbucks does, the terminal in the airport does, the hotel does, and any confrence center/board room does. Only place battery life is ever an issue, is on an airplane. Or maybe during a power outage.
If they do make Wi-Fi a regular thing on flights though, they will have to give us outlet access.
jcollins
May 25, 2009 at 2:29pm
Um, duh? You can bring your own food on the plane. You can't bring your own internet connection...
Devo85x
May 25, 2009 at 12:21pm
Wouldn't there be 2 major problems with WIFI on an airplane (when talking about using laptops, not using it through cell phones, etc...) 1) since you would all be on the same network, wouldnt it be slow as crap? no hulu for you! and 2) again, since you are all on the same network, wouldn't it be easy to get access to some morons computer that doesnt keep it secure?
konata
May 25, 2009 at 2:15pm
but you should have a firewall.
Morons that do not, well...
There is a reason why we just labeled them a moron...
Andrew03
May 25, 2009 at 10:02am
I'm really not surprised. You can always buy food in the airport and then take it on the plane. Also, I hear that airline Wi-Fi doesn't taste like shit.
ace38
May 25, 2009 at 8:53am
So the same airlines who scream and holler about no cell phones, laptops, game boys, ect. are worried about food or wifi??
marshallladd
May 25, 2009 at 9:14pm
I work as an Air Traffic Controller. The whole turn off electronics thing is an outdated rule. It used to be that old analog cell phone bands used to operate on some of the same frequencies that the aircraft and controllers were using, causing interferance and disrupting safety. At least, that is how it was explained to me at the accadamy. That is not a problem anymore.
The only reason they keep this rule(in my opinion) again is safety. The chances of an emergency happening are at their greatest during takeoff and landing. So if they make you turn off your mp3 players and all that during take-off and landing you will be more attentive and quicker to respond, if you have to.
konata
May 25, 2009 at 2:12pm
They only care about cell phones, laptops and gameboys during liftoff and touchdown.
Not sure why you are agitated...
