For busy business travelers on the move, access to Internet is vital as it allows them to check emails, the stock market or for keeping up with the office back home.

If you are flying with United, once your flight is cruising above 10,000 feet, listen out for an announcement from the crew to point out that Wi-Fi has been switched on, or just search for the United Wi-Fi hotspot and connect.

United has two main types for Internet connections. The first one is satellite-based which can be found on international flights and on some domestic services within the US. And then there is a cellular-based Internet connection which is the mainstay of the airline's p.s. Premium Service flights.

The price varies from flight to flight, even between the same cities. For instance, unlimited Internet on UA99 from Melbourne to Los Angeles sells for US$16.99 (A$24), but goes for a higher US$19.99 (A$28.24) on the return leg as UA98.

From Los Angeles to New York, the price was a bulky US$15.99 for the same: just US$1 cheaper than the journey from Australia, which is almost three times as long.

Planes equipped with DirectTV technology show a small different welcome screen and have their own pricing scheme.

The former is a favorite amongst smartphone users who are only looking to sending and receiving email via the Mail app and using other pre-installed software, such as Facebook and Twitter, as long as they don't need to open their web browser.

However, for laptop users it makes more sense to get the full option, which on longer domestic flights costs the same as what you'd pay on United's fixed-fee connections once taking into consideration the time lost to taxi, take-off, landing and the inflight meal.

Getting online is considerably straightforward. After clicking on the price of the plan you prefer - or the only plan there is, according to the aircraft type - you can login to your United MileagePlus frequent flyer account to complete the payment or make a quick check-out as a guest.

Even though guest check-out is faster, it is preferable using the MileagePlus option as it allows you to switch your connection and plan to other services (for instance, smartphone or tablet), whereas guest plans are non-transferable.

This is comfortable if you are working on your laptop when they serve the meal so you have to fold your try back, this is when you can get your smartphone out to continue where you left off.

As to payments, a variety of credit cards are accepted including the expected Visa and MasterCard along with American Express, Diners Club, Discover and JCB, plus payments from UATP accounts.

The payments are processed straight away and the receipt will go straight to your email account.

To be on time for a meeting or a conference is pivotal for a travel professional. Therefore, it is important to choose airlines that will guarantee this plus, if the plane is doing a stopover, choose airports that are just as efficient.

At the top of the list, airBaltic and Brussels South Charleroi are the best airline and airport worldwide for on-time performance.

Copa made it to the second place as the best performing globally, followed by Azul, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways.

Meanwhile, UK airlines and airports had inconsistent results in the annual rankings from flight intelligence specialist OAG.

At a global level, Monarch is the highest placed UK airline, in 14th, followed by Flyby in 17th. EasyJet was 50th and British Airways 70th.

AirBaltic leads the EMEA region top ten with 94% of its flights on time, followed by Finnair, Australia, LOT, KLM, SAS, Monarch, Iberia, Flybe and Qatar Airways.

Simultaneously, the best performing airports in the EMEA region are Brussels South Charleroi, Stavanger, Bergen, Cologne Bonn, Warsaw, Bristol, Hannover, Copenhagen, Moscow Sheremetyevo and Helsinski.

According to OAG's rankings, the top 20 performing large airports in OAG's rankings are Tokyo Haneda, followed by Munich, Sao Paulo Guarulhos, Minneapolis and Sydney. Notably missing out on the top 20 are London Heathrow, Beijing and Hong Kong.

Runaway capacity of course continues to be an issue for the UK, says John Grant, senior analyst, OAG. Heathrow and Gatwick's OTP ratings are both down on last year, a real reflection of how far those airports are stretched for capacity.

To qualify for inclusion in the OAG Punctuality League, the OAG Schedules database has to receive 80% of all scheduled flights and and from an airport, therefore there were some considerable omissions.

If business travel matches your personality and your current circumstances, it can have countless benefits. If you like traveling and are looking to jump-start your career, business traveling has many advantages in store for you; however, if you are a single parent with many responsibilities who is not that interested in traveling, then the benefits of your profession when it comes to corporate traveling might not be that obvious to you.

However, for those whose situation and personality matches with business traveling, this will be a massive job perk for many reasons.

First, you will enjoy all that a new place has to offer. Some people enjoy traveling, and provide the right time off work and resources, they will travel more. Business traveling provides them the opportunity to get to see new places as part of their job, so they don't need to take holidays, and with everything paid for, so they don't need those resources. This allows them to put a dot on the world map to point at a new place they've visited and feel satisfied that they got to see something new.

If you are a food lover, this means trying out the best restaurants, food menus and food stalls around the country - or even the world. If you like to explore new places, get knowledge as you do that, and learn the history, this means on your leisure time, you can explore new museums and historical sites.

Even if the company is paying for your trip and expenses, you might still be able to enjoy personal miles. Apart from collecting miles with your flight, you can also collect miles by using your credit card linked to collecting miles in certain places, so make sure you do your research and collect as many miles as you can so you can save it for your holidays. It's like a bonus.

As a frequent traveler, you can also get some options as pre-check to speed up the process of getting through security lines. That will make your trip run more smoothly - less stressful and less of a hassle.

It can boost your business as well, as traveling may allow you to stay up to date with the latest trends in the world and adapt your company accordingly to be more competitive in the global market.

If you can prove to your boss that you are productive, effective, and reliable while traveling for business, you might secure yourself a virtual office and work from any location if that is what you want. This might be an advantage to spice things up and keep you from going to the office, but working off-shore from exciting locations. However, it is true that some people need an office to go to and the contact with other colleagues to boost productivity, so this is obviously not for everyone.

Traveling can also make you more adaptable to new circumstances. Business traveling puts you in situations that require you to think fast and solve problems that you might not find in daily life, such as getting a flight canceled, struggle to find a hotel room in a foreign city, economic transaction or getting your luggage stole. These lessons make you more adaptable to circumstances and more appreciated by employers, friends and family.

Corporate traveling also allows you to meet new people. In your daily life, you are always surrounded by the same people, which is great to nurture long-lasting relationships; however, this closes your path to meet new people who might open up a new world for you, allow you to have new experiences, new ways of thinking, new opportunities. You might even meet a love interest, a close friend or a future employer or business partner.

As you visit a new place, you are more likely to experience new things and find new ways or recreation. In fact, it seems like a duty while you are traveling. You might try new water sports if the region allows that or hiking in the mountain. Either way, a new place is a new and perhaps different setting that allows you to do different things from what you'd normally do at your hometown.

Traveling also gives you a lesson in prioritizing health. As it is hard to work out while you are traveling, it makes you appreciate it more and realize how much you need it. Therefore, always try to use the fitness centers at the hotels, take the gear you need and challenge yourself to go for a run around the city and creating a habit of exercising. This will help your body and mind, and health in general.

From kick-starting your career, expanding your network, enhancing your portfolio to getting to see new places, you name it, business travel has countless advantages for a business professional. However, for there to be a bright side, there also has to be a downside and on the other side of the spectrum, business traveling can be lonely, exhausting, stressful and detrimental for one's health.

As you are traveling for business, you are most probably traveling on your own, meaning you are leaving your family and friends behind. Most of your time is spent at the airport, on the plane and at business meetings with people you probably just met.

If the business professional is married, this can have consequences on the marital life. Some couples are comfortable with having their space, but when traveling is frequent, this can get to be too much. Constant traveling can also keep the business professional to miss out on their children's life event. One remedy for this situation is the use of Skype or video chat. Although this may alleviate loneliness, a virtual presence is not a real substitute for a personal presence.

Frequent traveling also affects business travelers in terms of jet lag. Human body is not prepared to cross multiple time zones in such a short time as technology allows. This impact has certain consequences in the body and the mind that can affect your productivity and cause you to feel tired. A solution to this issue is to try to sleep on the plane or adapt to the time zone you are traveling to beforehand. Avoid alcohol or caffeine on the day of traveling to be able to sleep on the plane.

Unfortunately, there are more risks to constantly traveling for business. For instance, you are at a higher risk of a heart attack and a stroke, you are more likely to eat unhealthy as you are eating on the go and jet lag or sleep deprivation increases your appetite for junk food.

The planes are constantly being boarded by passengers and the trays where you eat are rarely cleaned, thus germs abound and you are more exposed to get sick. The likelihood of catching a virus also increases as you find yourself in a plane, so a closed space, sharing the same air with many other people who might be already sick. Finally, you are also more exposed to radiation.

You might start gaining weight not only because you are more likely to eat unhealthy and to overeat, but also because it becomes difficult to exercise at all. Some hotels do have a fitness centre and some places you visit might have a park where you can exercise, but it still breaks your routine, and you might not even have time to exercise.

The best solution is to recognize this downside is real and try to make up for it as best as you can. Use virtual communication to connect with your family, take sanitizer with you on the plane, try to take vitamins, try to follow a logical sleep pattern, try to exercise, eat healthy whenever you get the chance, and make the most of it to stay happy and positive, since after all, the glamour and achievement to business traveling is undeniable.