Study Puts A Number On Productivity Loss During Air Travel
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A new study quantifies what you might feel when you're on a plane: the productivity loss blamed on the ban on electronic devices during takeoffs and landings.
"All electronic devices should now be turned off and stowed as they may interfere with the aircraft's navigational and communication systems."
Researchers at DePaul University estimate that policy will cost air travelers nearly 106 million hours this year alone -- time we could have been using our tablets or laptops to do work, or for entertainment. That's up from 52 million hours in 2010.
The FAA has been studying the impact of electronics on a plane's systems and plans to release its findings next month, but it's been under pressure from passengers and lawmakers to relax the rules -- with some calling for connected devices to be allowed throughout an entire flight.
With around one of every nine people on board using a tablet or e-reader, the DePaul researchers say the half-hour of "lost tech time" at take-off and landing costs more than several hundred million dollars each year.
The report, by DePaul's Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, studied domestic flights.
