Business | Bartleby

How not to work on a plane

Hours without interruption and work to do. What could go wrong?

illustration showing a businessman seated on top of an airplane, working on his laptop.
Illustration: Paul Blow

You are not important enough to turn left on a plane. But you are important enough for the company to want you to have completed a project-risk update by the time you land. You have six solid hours in the air, and the work should take no more than three hours. You are not in a middle seat, and no one can email you. What could possibly go wrong?

Explore more

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Mistakes on a plane”

From the May 4th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Elon Musk looks on during a conference.

Elon Musk’s xAI goes after OpenAI

The fight is turning nasty

A man waitiing for the lift, which is full of people.

How to behave in lifts: an office guide

Life in an elevator



Gautam Adani faces bribery charges in America

Prosecutors allege one of India’s richest men paid off local officials

Nvidia’s boss dismisses fears that AI has hit a wall

But it’s “urgent” to get to the next level, Jensen Huang tells The Economist

Does Dallas offer a vision of America’s future?

The Texan city embodies the allure of small government