New Research Reveals Business Traveler Preferences

A new survey from CWT revealed a number of business traveler preferences, including where they want to sit on planes and how they feel about losing their luggage.

The research revealed that two-thirds of business travelers prefer window seats over aisle seats and a slight majority would rather miss a flight than miss their luggage. The survey also found that more business travelers use taxis than shared rides at the airport.

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However, these global results were not uniform worldwide. For example, in Asia, 71 percent of business travelers wanted window seats, however, just 59 percent preferred the window in the Americas. Sixty-five percent of Europeans preferred the window seat over the aisle seat.

When it came to losing luggage versus missing a flight, Americans were more likely to want to miss a flight, with 54 percent indicating that was their preference. That narrow majority was similar around the world. Fifty-two percent of Europeans had the same preference and, in Asia, the number was a 50-50 split.

When it comes to ground transportation, Europeans were far more likely to prefer taxis. A whopping 69 percent indicated that they were more inclined to use taxis over ride-sharing services. In the U.S., the research showed almost the complete opposite. Sixty-three percent of Americans were more likely to use services such as Uber or Lyft.

Travelers in the Asia-Pacific region were more evenly split but still a large majority of travelers, 56 percent, preferred taxis.

“These findings provide fascinating and sometimes counter-intuitive insights into how global business travelers approach their journeys,” said Niklas Andreen, executive vice president and chief traveler experience officer at CWT. “We see significant differences between regions – for example, in Asia, people are more likely to want a window seat, whereas, in markets like the US, the view is less of a draw.”

The CWT survey also found that both business and leisure travelers were happy to share their travel preferences. Nine out of 10 travelers (89 percent) around the world were “extremely or “somewhat” willing to do so, the research found.

Overall, European travelers are least willing to share data with 14 percent not willing to share their data. Travelers from the Americas or the Asia Pacific region are much less likely to refuse to share their preferences, especially when traveling for leisure.