OAG Travel News

I remember the days when a business trip meant you were virtually incommunicado with your office and your family, except for perhaps a fax machine or a very expensive phone call. Yet today, accessing your email and browsing the web on a hand-held device is the norm for the travelling executive.

It may seem odd in today’s wired – and wireless – world that we managed to travel the globe with little more than a pocket-sized flight guide to help us when plans change. Now, thanks to software like OAGFlights2Go, I can look up flight times, check on possible delays and even find out the location of my baggage, simply by tapping a few buttons on my phone.

As you may have guessed, I’m what you would call a ‘frequent complex business traveller’, averaging over 50 round trips a year. If you travel as often as I do you probably know that as much as you hope for a smooth trip hiccups are, at times, inevitable.

I remember waiting for a flight to get home, the day before my son’s birthday, which got cancelled at the last minute. In the old days I would have been stuck but, with the latest flight schedules at my fingertips, I was able to spot that there was another flight leaving in an hour. I immediately ran to the customer service desk and managed to make the change before the crowd got there. I was glad I got home on time to see the smile on my son’s face when I handed him his present.

We continue to debate the merits and pitfalls of being constantly ‘connected’. With increasing numbers of airlines adapting to cater for mobile phone use it is easy to see a day when that quiet time onboard will be replaced by a continuous flow of emails. Yet in today’s economic climate we are under more pressure than ever before to squeeze every drop of value from a trip.

Yes, there are times when I want to scream at the ‘beep’ of yet another email coming through when I’m at the airport check-in, or having a hurried meal before my next meeting, but where would I be without my mobile and the link it provides to my office and family?

Do you remember the days?

Mario M. Hardy is Vice President Asia Pacific, OAG Worldwide

Appeared in PATA Compass magazine, March/April 2009 and reproduced with permission