Eco-Friendly DL?
Today Delta Air Lines issued allegedly eco-friendly guidance for frequent fliers. A few thoughts:
•Pack lighter carry-ons and checked baggage.
Fair enough. But won't the lower passenger baggage weight simply allow the airline to cary more air cargo, which is more lucrative to airlines on both a per-pound and per-cubic-meter basis?
•Book nonstop flights when possible.
This only works if the air cargo portion of Delta's business, which includes mail, does the same. Otherwise, the hub-and-spoke connecting routes will be flown anyway.
Plus on many routes (e.g,. LAX-JFK, LAX-LHR, LAX-NRT), nonstop flights are substantially more expensive, especially the red-eyes. So can we expect DL to equalize the fares to encourage nonstop bookings?
•Bring an empty, non-plastic, refillable water bottle with you.
And how will you fill it in the air? Ah, from the flight attendant's plastic 2-liter water bottle, which is of limited capacity! And non-plastic means metal, since large glass water bottles are not a good idea on planes -- heavy and non-compressible. So how many times will pax forget pricey metal water containers in the back seat pockets before they switch back to plastic?
•Buy a metal straw to travel with and use throughout your trip.
And you can wash the metal straw in midair using --- hmmm -- lavatory water? Plus will the metal straw cause airline drink cups, which have a low center of gravity to prevent tipping, to tip over more often?
• Close the window shade when you're in the window seat to help conserve energy.
This works on the ground. In flight, when the outside air is about –60ºF, heat is provided though the jet engines, which must consume more fuel to warm the cabin. Raising the shades in flight allows more sunlight in, reducing the need to heat the cabin.
But the sunlight annoys passengers who are using the in-flight entertainment system, one of the major complaints that flight attendants must deal with. Methinks there is an ulterior motive here.
• Use the FlyDelta App for your boarding pass rather than printing it out.
This saves a trivial amount of energy and paper, but the app does instantly reflect itinerary changes. If the energy consumed in powering the phone multiple times (luggage check, security, boarding) exceeds printing a single piece of paper per leg, then why not?
Better, why can't airlines format home-printed boarding passes to put all legs on one A4 sheet of paper? Oh yeah, they cram as many ads as possible on the home-printed passes.