Frequent flier schemes, like Air Miles, seem to encourage flying,…
Ashley Nunes, a research fellow at Harvard Law School, has looked at the impact of air miles on increasing air travel, and thus aviation carbon emissions. It is possible that trips taken using air miles account for around 10% of overall bookings. Might abolishing these schemes have a significant impact on CO2 emissions? Aviation loyalty programmes are around 40 years old. They have evolved a bit since then, so it is not merely a complementary trip that can be obtained. Today, banking air miles also no longer requires getting in the air. In fact, it is estimated that over half of them are earned through non-flying related activities, as airlines have formed lucrative partnerships with third parties such as credit card companies, car rental agencies and hotel chains. It can sometimes be hard for someone to use the air miles for the flight they want, and many are never claimed. This is called “breakage” in industry parlance, and that might be as much as 30%. Sometimes people use them to upgrade from coach class to a premium seat, and that may not have much carbon impact, if those seats would otherwise have been empty. .Tweet Frequent flier schemes would seem to encourage flying, and thus greenhouse gas emissions. But this relationship could be less clear-cut than it appears, argues researcher Ashley Nunes. By By Ashley Nunes (BBC Future Planet) 23rd November 2022 Flying is very far from being a green activity. A return flight from Lisbon to New York generates nearly the same level of CO2 as the average person in the EU does by heating their home all year round. Compared with land transport, a plane requires a lot more energy, says Agnes Jocher, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, whose research explores sustainable future mobility. The result is a disproportionate climate impact compared to alternatives (trains and ferries, to name a few). In a 2019 report on reducing emissions through behaviour change, Richard Carmichael, a social sciences researcher at Imperial College London, observed that flying was a “uniquely high-impact activity” and “the quickest and cheapest way for a consumer to increase their carbon footprint”. By one estimate, trips taken using air miles account for around 10% of overall bookings. But could axing these schemes curb rising aviation emissions? Or would such a policy be fruitless – and efforts to reduce aviation be better spent elsewhere? The answer is more complicated that it might initially seem. You might also like: The fastest way aviation could cut its carbon emissions What would a flying-free world look like? Is seaweed the future of flying? Aviation loyalty programmes are around 40 years old. Texas International Airlines, a now-defunct carrier, created the first one in 1979. At the time, governments were easing restrictions over which carriers could fly, where they could fly to, and when, so competition between carriers intensified. Airline execs needed new ways to boost their brand. One solution? Offer flyers something extra to secure their loyalty – an IOU that could be cashed in later. Paying passengers would earn “miles” based on how often and how far they flew, which could then be exchanged for a complementary trip. Although these programmes have since evolved (today’s flyers are also rewarded based on how much they spend), the underlying premise remains the same. Some climate activists suggest that it’s time to scrap these schemes. “The very last thing we should be doing is reward frequent flyers,” says Herwig Schuster, a transport campaigner for Greenpeace. “Frequent flyer programmes are not fair to the climate and the majority of people worldwide who almost never fly. We cannot allow airlines to incentivise a lifestyle that’s destroying the planet while they receive major tax cuts and subsidies, and fill their pockets by selling more flight tickets.” Fare-paying passengers are more valuable to carriers than freeloading flyers And sell more flight tickets carriers do. Passengers crisscross the globe four billion times annually. Each can pick from over 22,000 routes flown by over 25,000 commercial jets that collectively account for over 42 million flights. That puts total miles travelled in the air globally in the trillions, a potential gold mine for frequent fliers often courted by carriers. Today, banking air miles also no longer requires getting in the air. In fact, it is estimated that over half of all such miles are earned through non-flying related activities. This is because airlines have formed lucrative partnerships with third parties: credit card companies, car rental agencies and hotel chains, to name a few. But does earning these miles make people fly more? It turns out that snapping up miles is one thing, using them, another. This disconnect may seem surprising, but “breakage” – industry parlance for miles that go unused – does occur. North American airline trade body, Airlines for America (A4A), declined to comment on the prevalence of breakage in the industry. However, global consulting firm McKinsey has calculated that up to 30% of all air miles go unused: it estimates that ove
