Tnooz recently reported that 75% of UK travelers between the ages of 18 and 25 want in-flight Internet connectivity. But what about connected Americans?
Airfare search engine Fly.com‘s recent survey of American travelers has the stats: 80% of 500 respondents want the option to connect to the Internet during their flight, and 66% would like to be allowed to talk on their cell phone.
While the jury is still out on people talking on their cell phones in increasingly crowded cabins – really, the plane is the last sacred safe space devoid of the loud oversharer – most folks are completely fine with the steady tap-tap-tap of their fellow travelers enjoying an in-flight Internet connection.
Cell Phone Responses
|
59% |
Do not understand the “flight mode” cell phone setting |
|
46% |
Do not know why airlines ask passengers to turn off their phones |
|
38% |
Believe the most annoying thing about allowing cell phones on planes will be people talking too loudly |
|
48% |
Would use cell phones to keep friends and family informed of flight progress |
Internet Responses
|
65% |
Think it is important that airlines offer Internet access on flights |
|
36% |
Would take advantage of in-flight Internet access to find information and deals relating to their destination |
|
26% |
Would use in-flight Internet to catch up on emails |
Fly.com also uncovered some less-than-encouraging-but-perhaps-not-surprising news: Americans are cheap, with 49% stating they don’t want to pay for WiFi and 27% saying that they won’t pay more than $5.
Perhaps the ancillary-weary traveler is finally putting their foot down – although the acceptable price point for the bread-and-butter business travelers are surely much different, as in-flight WiFi is generally a reimbursable expense.
Has WiFi become more of an expected amenity to the digital traveler, or are travelers just used to having complimentary WiFi in hotels, airports, cafes and other traveler-frequented establishments, thus creating the free WiFi expectation across all travel experiences?
Warren Chang, Fly.com’s vice president and general manager for Fly.com:
“Not only do American travelers want to stay ‘plugged in’ during their flights, but there is also a much higher tolerance for in-flight mobile phone use than we expected. It is good to see that the FAA is looking at ways to satisfy this demand through possible new allowances. Most American travelers might be surprised to know that non U.S. airlines have actually been allowing the use of cell phones in-flight for some time now. Emirates led the way back in 2008 and, since then, others have followed suit – including Virgin Atlantic, Oman Air and Royal Jordanian.”
Will the next in-flight amenity actually be “quiet cabins” similar to the “quiet cars” featured in many of the world’s train systems? Only time will tell, but all it takes is one 12-hr flight next to a Chatty Cathy on a Cellphone, and we’ll all surely be hankering for the blissfully disconnected cabins of yore.
NB: Cabin image from Shutterstock.
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About Nick Vivion
I’d gladly welcome and pay for inflight WiFi if it were broadband, capable of streaming, but its a travesty to have to pay for the dial-up speed currently being offered on most airlines. I have an account with GoGo but I’ve stopped using it because the experience is just frustratingly slow! Learning to enjoy books again…
There are definitely still some tech hurdles – especially when people are so used to being able to stream video content on their laptops. Creating a connection that is fast enough for 100 people to stream Netflix from is hard enough on the ground, so I can only imagine how they’d be able to do that at 30,000 feet!
Don’t we need planes with enough seat pitch to open up a laptop before we consider connecting to WiFi…fast or not?
Very true!
I dread the day mobile phone are used widely on flights. There are people out there who are just not enough sense and space is just too tight on flights. I see air rage spiking in line with the uptake of phone usage on plans.
An example of what Mr. Joe Public can be like, I’ve heard on a Tube train a man call his bank, answers all the security questions, then advised he was calling because there had been fraudulent activity on his account!!
Here’s to hoping it stays expensive enough for the average person to keep the phone switched off!
Agreed – I can barely get enough armrest space from the guy next to me, not to mention avoiding bad air breath that’s wafting over me. Not looking forward to also having to listen to every thought spewing from someone’s mouth! I think there will be backlash, and “quiet cabins” will become a feature of the more discerning airlines.
Fingers crossed!