Airlines encourage customers to emit 34 times their lifetime carbon budget through frequent flyer reward schemes
Analysis by climate charity Possible found that lifetime membership status of a frequent flyer programme can require emitting more than 1,800 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person – 34 times more CO₂ than a lifetime per person share of the remaining carbon budget to limit climate change to 1.5ºC.
Flying enough to qualify for different levels of frequent flyer programme membership requires average emissions of between 5.6 tonnes and 92.8 tonnes each year, which is at least 7 times and as much as 112 times higher than the average UK air travel footprint.
Possible is calling for an immediate end to frequent flyer programmes offered by airlines operating in the UK, along with the introduction of a frequent flyer levy and a kerosene tax to reduce excessive, wasteful consumption of high-carbon travel.
A new report by climate charity Possible has uncovered the colossal carbon footprints associated with gaining membership in frequent flyer programmes offered by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
Frequent flyer programmes (FFPs) are a key part of the business model of airlines which offer them. They drive ticket sales and incentivise consumers to pay for the most carbon-intensive seating options in business or first class – and to fly more than they otherwise would.
The report found that gaining membership of even the lowest level of a frequent flyer reward programme requires taking flights producing average emissions of 5.6 tCO2e each year (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), which is nearly 7 times the UK average air travel footprint of 0.83 tonnes of CO2e each year. The highest annual level of membership required flights emitting 92.8 tonnes of CO2e each year, 112 times the UK average emissions from air travel. In contrast, nearly half of the UK’s population don’t fly at all in any given year.
Additionally, lifetime membership status can require taking flights which emit more than 1,800 tCO2e per person for the highest FFP status level. This is equivalent to 34 times the lifetime per person share of the remaining carbon budget for a 50% chance of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC.
Possible is calling for an immediate end to the offering of frequent flyer programmes by airlines operating in the UK, along with the introduction of a frequent flyer levy and a kerosene tax. This would help to reduce excessive, wasteful consumption of high-carbon travel by a small group of people, and more accurately reflect the real cost of flying for our climate.
FFPs cater to a small but prolific demographic of ultra-frequent flyers, who are responsible for a disproportionately large share of flights and emissions. The report points to anecdotal evidence from members of FFPs, which shows how the programmes encourage members to maximise their points by taking unnecessary and even unwanted flights, such as making a ‘tier point run’.
This is the term which FFP members use to describe a long and convoluted journey featuring multiple flights, taken only to collect points to reach or maintain levels of FFP membership. The report argues that these programmes encourage and reward very high levels of consumption of highly polluting flights, and should therefore be ended and replaced with a frequent flyer levy.
A tax on jet fuel should also be introduced to help reflect the climate damage caused by aviation emissions.
Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at climate charity Possible, said:
“We need urgent action to protect the climate, but frequent flyer reward programmes are sending emissions soaring in the wrong direction. Airlines are incentivising a small group of incredibly frequent flyers to take flights they don’t even want, just to get points - while people around the world pay the real price as they face dangerous heatwaves and out of control wildfires. Airlines need to end this irresponsible behaviour, and stop awarding points for pollution.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For the full report, entitled Pointless: The climate impact of frequent flyer status, please see here.
For media enquiries and further information please contact press@wearepossible.org or 07402 197023.
Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at climate charity Possible, is available for comment. Please contact press@wearepossible.org for more information.
Possible is a UK based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. Wearepossible.org.
Possible’s aviation work includes a campaign for fair demand management via a frequent flyer levy. The charity is also challenging the government’s expansion-based Jet Zero Strategy for aviation in court, via a judicial review.