Business Travel Tips

Dallas/Fort Worth, New York JFK and Atlanta are the best airports in the United States for providing Wi-Fi and other tech amenities, according to a study conducted by PCWorld magazine.

The study, “The 20 Best Airports for Tech Travelers”, identified the most tech-friendly airports, terminals and airlines in the U.S.

In order to carry out the study, PCWorld researchers visited 3300 gates, where they counted more than 17,000 electrical outlets, 5,000 USB ports, and 1,350 charging stations and conducted performance tests of Wi-Fi and cellular broadband service, in the 40 busiest airports in the U.S.
PCWorld found that the top 20 U.S. airports for tech amenities were as follows:

Dallas/Fort Worth
New York Kennedy
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Detroit Metro
Sacramento International
Oakland International
New York LaGuardia
Salt Lake City
Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International
San Francisco International
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
Raleigh/Durham International
Nashville International
Minneapolis/St. Paul International
Chicago Midway
Cleveland Hopkins International
Los Angeles International
Seattle/Tacoma International
Kansas City International
Portland (Ore.) International
(source PCWorld).
Also PCWorld, on the other hand, found that Denver International, Washington Dulles International, and Boston Logan International offer meager amenities per gate, and slow wireless service.

Lufthansa has been named the winner of the IATA Fast Travel Award.
IATA awarded the German carrier for its innovative, flexible solutions to simplify and speed up the passenger experience.

In order to qualify for the Fast Travel award, airlines must provide six self-service options: electronic check-in, self-service baggage drop-off, self-boarding at the gate, automated document check, independent flight re-booking and lost bag registration.

Lufthansa was he airline which best meets all the key criteria for earning the Fast Travel Award.
The carrier offers passengers all three of the electronic check-in options — check-in kiosks and the two online check-in options via PC or Internet-enabled mobile devices — proposed in IATA’s Fast Travel programme.
Lufthansa’s baggage drop-off kiosks have been in use at Munich Airport for several years now.
When it comes to self-boarding at the gate, automated boarding facilities are already available for Lufthansa passengers at more than 160 gates in Germany.

You are working till late night in office and your boss has planned an international trip for you next morning. What do you do?
Business travel involves a great sense of professionalism but it also needs to be carefully planned so you are able to enjoy a business trip comfortable and productive. Here are few basic travel tips for those travelling on a business tour.

• Even if you are not sure of the next business trip, keep your travel luggage ready! So if you have to leave for an emergency, you can just pick and walk out with your luggage. Keep fresh clothing and essentials ready in the bag, not forgetting your travel document inclusive of Visa, passport etc. That will surely save your time if you have an early morning flight.

• Plan your trip to avoid rush hours and busy airports. If you want to get to your destination on time, either take the first flight out in the morning or late night to arrive a day prior to your business meet or conference.

• Make sure that the hotel you are choosing offers all facilities you need.

• Carry a cell phone to make several international calls especially business related. And to make this simpler, you could register with a calling service which allows you to make free calls.

• Carry your tech-kit inclusive of your own laptop, Ethernet cable, a couple of USB memory sticks, CDs, presentation files, laptop charger, etc. And make sure all this goes into another bag, not mixed with your luggage or travel documents.

• Do a research on the company you are going to visit. They would certainly be making a big effort to welcome and escort you. So, you should be friendly, humble, and professional.

• Learn the names of the people you are suppose to meet so that you address them by name. This will help to build trust with them.

• You have to look decent and professional when you are on a business trip. The way you present yourself will tell them a lot about the sort of person you are and about your company. Make sure that you are wearing proper attire. Be sure to have a smile on your face and a good posture while walking and sitting.

• Don’t assume everyone eats meat and drinks alcohol. Be careful what you order considering hygienic and safety factors. It is important to stay healthy while travelling as you are there for business and not to ruin your health.

• Once you complete all your business meets, you could take the time to visit your business destination, if you feel it is worth to do that.

Australian Jetstar carrier is now offering iPad as an inflight entertainment option.

The carrier, which has just launched iPad on selected flights, will make this option available across the Australian domestic and short haul international services from Australia and New Zealand in the coming weeks.

The price for hiring an iPad on Jetstar flights longer than two hours is $10-$15 per flight.
The carrier also plans to extend the iPads option on Jetstar’s Asia network.

According to the 2011 SITA – Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey, 54% of passengers carry a smartphone –that percentage rises to 74% for first/business class passengers and frequent flyers. This figure has doubled over the last year.

The survey has been carried out on a representative sample of the 283.5 million passengers who pass through six of the world’s leading airport hubs, including: Abu Dhabi International Airport; Beijing International Airport; Frankfurt International Airport; Hartsfield-Jackson, Atlanta; Mumbai International; and Sao Paulo Guarulhos.

Why is the smartphone becoming increasingly an important tool for travelers? About questions concerning what information or flight-related applications air travelers access more frequently through a smartphone, the following summarizes the key findings of the survey.
- Mobile boarding passes: 73% of passengers would like to use them, while 17% had already used them at least once.
- Mobile check-in: it is growing in use and complementing airport kiosks and web check-in, with 31% of passengers who carry a smartphone stating to use mobile check-in frequently or occasionally — 36% of first/business class passengers do so.
- Bluetooth: 23% of departing passengers said that they had Bluetooth on at the airport.
- SMS flight information: 50% of interviewed first/business class passengers and frequent flyers stated they receive SMS notifications.
- Information on shopping: over 80% of interviewed travelers are not interested in receiving information on shopping deals.
- Free airport Wi-Fi network: 75% of of passengers who use a smartphone would connect to a free airport Wi-Fi network, with 23% of them also willing to pay for accessing the service.