IATA: Flyers Want To Work, Comply With Policy
<B> IATA: Flyers Want To Work, Comply With Policy</B>
By Jay Campbell
The first-ever corporate air travel survey by the International Air Transport Association, to be officially released at the group's Geneva conference next month, found that when it comes to in-flight services, North American frequent business travelers are far more interested in power sources for their laptops than in onboard telephone and fax connections.
Asked to rank their interest on a scale of 0-5, where 0 is "not at all interested" and 5 is "very interested," fully 74 percent of the 354 respondents ranked laptop power as a 4 or 5. A much smaller, though still significant, 46 percent ranked phones a 4 or 5, while 40 percent exhibited the same level of interest in fax capabilities. In-flight gambling, however, sparked little interest among business travelers, with over 80 percent of respondents ranking it 0 or 1.
The survey also touched on a number of other issues, including what factors influence travelers' choice of airline, what aspects of the airline product are important to them and whether they are willing to use electronic tickets or Internet booking systems.
Schedules, frequent flyer programs and reputation for safety were named, in that order, as the key factors that influence the choice of airline. Company travel policy was an influencing factor for one out of five respondents. Still, 58 percent said they nearly always follow company policy and 38 percent said they usually do.
Frequent flyer programs are "always" a consideration for 31 percent of respondents, while another 31 percent said they are "often" influential. But 32 percent of those surveyed said they are members of more than five frequent flyer programs and another 32 percent are members of three or four, allowing them concurrently to adhere to corporate policy and accrue miles. However, only 5 percent of the 277 respondents who joined multiple programs said they did so to comply with company policy.
The survey revealed that the larger the company, the more likely it was to dictate what class of service travelers are to book. Over three-quarters of the 161 respondents who work for corporations with over 1,000 employees said their company has a policy on class of service, while only 20 percent of companies with between 1 and 25 employees did. Of all respondents, 75 percent said they fly economy on short haul routes; on long haul routes, 53 percent choose business class and 40 percent fly first class.
Asked whether they'd fly no-frills carriers on short haul routes, 55 percent of respondents said they are "very willing" to do so, followed by "quite willing" at 19 percent.
Aspects of the long haul business product important to frequent travelers, in order, were: comfort of seat/legroom, punctuality, schedules, competitive fares, staff service and inflight food. For short haul flights, the order changed a bit, with punctuality leading the way, followed by schedules, comfort of seat/legroom, competitive fares and staff service.
Over 80 percent of respondents have access to the Internet, and over half access it for flight information, but only 10 percent said they use it to make reservations. Of that 10 percent, half said the fares available are about the same as what's available through a travel agency and over 80 percent said making a booking is "fairly" or "very" easy. For those who have not used it, the leading reason was that they prefer a travel agent.
Asked whether travelers see themselves making most travel arrangements through the Internet five years from now, 14 percent said "definitely" and 27 percent said "probably," but 31 percent said "probably not" and 23 percent said "definitely not." Another 5 percent said they don't know.
About half of the respondents said they have used electronic tickets. Sixty-three percent of the 173 who had tried e-tickets said they are "very comfortable" with the process and would use them again where available. Another 17 percent are "quite comfortable, but need more information." Of the total, travelers were mixed on whether they fully understand e-tickets, with over 10 percent saying they have never heard of them and another 30 percent acknowledging they are "not well-informed.