KLM: Stop Frequent Flyer Program Flying Blue!
Frequent flyer programs (FFP) are a symbol of an industry that refuses to face the reality of the climate crisis. Marketing and advertising make flying look like a normal and cool thing to do, while in the middle of a climate crisis this is no longer the case. FFP give free flights and extras to the 1% of the world population that causes 50% of all air travel emissions. Unnecessary trips are stimulated with for example mileage runs, where extra flights are taken to reach or maintain a member status. The amount of CO2 that needs to be put into the atmosphere to reach or maintain a status is huge, see graph below. For example, to reach Silver status in one year, 12 tons of CO2is needed. To reach Platinum, 68 tons (12+21+35) is needed. To keep Platinum from then on, you need to continue putting 35 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year! After 10 years, you become Platinum for Life, on a planet without life.
Suppose the tobacco industry would have a similar Frequent Smoker Program where the more you smoke, the more discount you get on extra cigarettes. What if you could get access to a smoking lounge with free snacks and drinks, but only if you smoke enough? Flying Blue normalizes and encourages flying in a perverse way that is not socially acceptable for any other sector with such a burden on health and the environment.
Airplanes did become more efficient in the past, but every time the benefits have been obliterated by immense growth of kilometers flown. Although more innovations will come, the industry also continues to grow. A studydiscussed in Dutch Parliament recently showed that technological solutions alone are not sufficient to solve climate problems in time. This is again confirmed in a recent study showing that KLM will not reduce but increase its CO2 emissions with 6% by 2030 as its promises of innovation are far from sufficient nor realistic. For example, KLM aims to fly on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) in the future. Apart from not being carbon neutral, SAF is very expensive and the infrastructure to produce enough is absent.
The only feasible solution is shrinkage of the airline industry. The true price of flying is not paid by the small group of frequent flyers, but by the entire world, especially by the people living in the Global South. Almost 80% of the world population has never flown. Reducing kilometers flown by frequent flyers is the most efficient and fair route to reduce CO2 emissions from aviation. Stopping the frequent flyer program is an obvious first step to achieving that.
Vragen? Opmerkingen? Tips? Allemaal welkom! Mail ons via stopflyingblue@proton.me.
