Winston Aldworth: Manners maketh the mobile traveller

Rowdy phone users need to be re-educated. Photo / 123RF

So there you are, sitting at the airport gate, about to board your long-haul flight. You run through your pre-flight check: You're hydrated and refreshed, you've got a book to read and your neck rest is ready to go - you've even found time to shower and put on fresh, clean undies.

Still, that 12-hour flight to Wherever is a long one and you just need to rela ... "YEAH HI! WE'RE BOARDING IN A MINUTE! YEAH, I KNOW! IT WAS GREAT, EH?! AW, DID HE SAY THAT, DID HE? CLASSIC. AND WHAT DID YOU SAY? CLASSIC. AND WHAT DID HE SAY? CLASSIC. AND WHAT DID YOU SAY? CLASSIC. HE SAID WHAT? THAT'S SO CLASSIC ... "

Now, I'm not advocating that rowdy phone users should be beaten to death with their own devices - a simple six-month stay at a re-education camp should be sufficient.

Expedia and Egencia have just released their 2014 Global Mobile Index report, a study of how travellers use and relate to mobile devices.

The unscientific survey suggests Kiwis - although big mobile users ourselves - are irritated by impolite mobile use among others.

Of Kiwi respondents, 64 per cent said making calls on speakerphone in a public area was offensive behaviour; 55 per cent were bugged by people who played music, games or videos without headphones.

Music without headphones? A set of orange overalls awaits you at the re-education camp!

Logged on and flying out

For me, the really interesting point coming out of Expedia's latest survey isn't about the 97 per cent of business travellers who bring a mobile on business trips. It's about the other three per cent.

Who on earth are these people who can travel without a mobile phone and still call it a business trip? Buddhist monks? The marketing consultants of some anti-mobile phone activists?

The unscientific Expedia survey again underlines how attached we are to our phones. Of the 8856 employed adults surveyed across 25 countries, 94 per cent said they took at least one mobile device with them on personal holidays.

Kiwis are big users, with 23 per cent of us claiming to use their smartphone more when they're on the road than than they do at home.