Eco-Scandal! AA Plane Flies 5 Passengers From US To London

A major airline is under fire from environmentalists for flying an aircraft across the Atlantic with only five passengers on board.

The flight from Chicago to London meant that the plane, a Boeing 777, used 22,000 gallons of fuel.

Friends of the Earth said it was 'obscene' to waste so much fuel flying an almost empty plane

It led to American Airlines being accused of reckless behaviour by green lobby groups.

The latest "eco- scandal" flight took place on February 9 after American was forced to cancel one of its four daily services from Chicago to London.

While it was able to find places for nearly all the passengers on the fully-booked flight, five still had to be accommodated. Those who did fly were upgraded to the business class cabin.

But while they enjoyed lavish hospitality, the airline was accused of an "obscene waste of fuel" by Friends of the Earth.

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Comments

[sportbiker]

What is the big deal. Al Gore and Ariana fly in their personal jets all the time. I have a term for most of the posters on this blog......­Fascist busy-bodies.

[oneofsixbillion]

Yes, and they offset their carbon emissions by trading carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. If the opportunity cost to spread the word and make 1000x difference is greater than the emmission of traveling, than by all means TRAVEL! No one is expecting perfection where the environment is concerned. Hypocricy happens, just do your best to do your part.

[evilcarbon]

Full or not full, who cares? American Airlines is the one paying for the gas. It's no mystery why most of the airline operate in the red.

Global Warming alarmists beware… http://www.EvilCarbon.com

[Logisticspro]

HuffPost's Pick

This is a clear case of people opening there mouths and getting upset when they do not no the facts of how the industry works.

A Boeing 777
Flight crew of two. Passenger seating for 305 in three classes or up to 440.
Under floor capacity for up to 32 LD3 containers.

LD3 153 ft³4.3 m³ 64.5"BW / 79"W x 60.4"D x 64"H164BW / 201W x 153D x 163H (cm) contoured, half width


Meaning that the plane is mainly full of cargo.
A plane does not need even one person on board to make money This is a service that the airlines provide.

That is how airlines make money.

[HowietheScreamer]

Bingo, we have a winner. AA and MOST airlines make MORE money on belly cargo than they do hauling people around. People actually COST more typically, especially the people in tourist/economy class. The business class pax and cargo PAY FOR YOUR CHEAP TICKET.

This flight isn't standard operation, but they needed to ferry the plane to London, so they did it.

The stupid thing that these eco-windbags don't understand is that if they HADN'T doen this it would have required MORE flights to make up the differnce. So it would have CREATED MORE of a mess.

These birkenstock clad tree huggers NEVER think things thorugh. Just blame blame blame. They want everyone to curl up and die. Ain't going to happen.

[janvoght]

thanks for the knowledgeable information, that might have otherwise not ever been revealed for any other reason. doesn't hurt to be vigilant regarding fuel waste, but checking in with authorities on this subject could have saved major embarrassment!

obama '08

[MajorKong]

If it was 1978 I'd say you were right. I don't know if the passenger airlines haul anywhere near the cargo that they used to. Most cargo these days goes via the dedicated freight haulers like UPS, FedEx, Airborne, Atlas, Evergreen etc.

[Logisticspro]

That were the freight forwarders come into play they have guarenteed space prebooked and a year your contract basis. Trust me some one somewere needs something delivered to were that plane is going "yesterday" and has paid top dollar to get it there.
Most carriers have freight only planes and would not carry people at all if not for laws stating that they have too.

[Syphonmaster]

Wow, I didnt think of that. That sure makes a lot of sense. And for the people that believe that this trip has introduced too much CO2 into our atmosphere, I will plant a tree for every reply that is submitted to this. It will be in my neighbor's yard, but I will plant it

[GAC1]

Thank you for stating the obvious. Major King doesn't know that AA and others haul freight for UPS and Fed Ex. I'm sure they loaded the plane to the gills with cargo. It is also the reason they moved everyone up to First Class....f­or weight and balance issues, probably.

[Themo]

Aw. Come on. You mean to tell us that 5 warm bodies are going to make a difference on something that weighs as much as a 777? AA probably moved them up to first class to keep an eye on them. So, they would't get into any mischief. Or got sick, etc.

[avnctek]

Yes, many times i seen people get bumped from a flight with seats still open on the plane, due to the weight of cargo on the aircraft.

[waterwader]

The situation looks more like "eco-harassment" than a scandal. How many "eco-friendly" people were on board to count the number of "non-eco-friendly" passengers on board? And, why does "Friends of the Earth" have the right to have de-facto authority to attempt to govern anything?

[treyna]

British Airways has been doing this for months so that they don't lose their arrival slots at heathrow. It has been covered in some of the newspapers. Why does nobody get upset when a European airline does this, but there's outrage when its a US airline? Do I sense some hypocrisy here?

[gevan]

We don't get to vote for the people who make the laws in Europe.

[onabluff]

We bailout A/A and other airlines with American tax money.Now if British airways ask me an American to bail them out then I would have the right as an American and not a tree hugger to speak up about this sad business practice.K­now wonder they are in the red and asking for pubic help its because of the 5 passenger flights and the multi-million dollar bonus packages these corporate A/A big wigs give themselves.

[griswold44]

...a drop in the bucket compared to what bush wastes tooling around in our 747.

[mkgardner99]

or Algore wastes tooling around the country selling carbon credits...

[deepblue222]

Bill Clinton: America's Best-Traveled President: As declared by the National Tax Payers Union
http://www.ntu.org/main/press.php?PressID=218&org_name=NTU

*** Bill Clinton made 133 visits to foreign nations -- a Presidential record (see Appendix 1 for a year-by-year listing of Clinton's trips).
*** These 133 visits break down into an average of 16.6 nations visited per year, another Presidential record.
*** In eight years, Clinton made more foreign visits than Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon combined (over the years 1953 -1974).
*** In eight years, Clinton visited almost as many nations as Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush combined (over the years 1977-1993).
*** While Clinton was President for one-sixth of the period analyzed (eight of the 48 years between 1953 and 2001), he accounted for almost one-third of all Presidential visits.
*** Clinton's closest competitor was President George H. W. Bush, who made 60 visits to foreign nations during his four years in office. While Bush was arguably more focused on foreign policy than almost any other President of this period, Clinton still managed to have an annual average 11% higher than Bush's.

Bill Clinton
8 years in office
229 days abroad
Source: State Department data, media and other reports on Presidential activities.

Not only did Bill like to party, but he took the whole party with him when he went - all at our expense
Bill's trip to Africa - Entourage 1,302
Bill's trip to Chile - Entourage 592
Bill's trip to China - Entourage 510

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Clinton made an issue of Presidential travel when he criticized his opponent, President George H. W. Bush, for spending too much time overseas and dodging his responsibilities at home. While in New Hampshire, candidate Clinton stated, "It is time for us to have a president who cares more about Littleton, N.H., than about Liechtenstein; more about Manchester than Micronesia­." [17] Later that year at the Democratic National Convention in New York, "George Bush's Around the World Tour" T-shirts were distributed, which listed all of the countries visited by Bush. Ironically, by the time he left office in January 2001, Clinton had become the all-time champion of Presidential travel. How typically Clinton is that?

[cmk1967]

For you idiots bitching about this, what if you are one of the people in London who are scheduled to be on that plane for its next flight. The airline tells you, "Sorry, the plane wasn't full enough for it to fly over here so we are going to have to cancel your flight because now we don't have a plane for you to fly on." You idiots would be bitching about that.

I worked for the scum sucking Northweset Airlines, so believe me I have no sympathy for the airlines, but I can tell you this is one of the most idiotic stories I've read in a while. I can't believe it made it to the yahoo homepage.

Of course, airlines don't make it a practice to fly only 5 people in a jumbo jet accoss the pond. There are many legitimate reason this could have happened.

#1. The plane was needed in London because its next flight could have been full.
#2 The plane was needed in London to replace a plane that was down for maintenance
#3 Airlines change their schedules a few times a year, and they move planes around to accomodate the schedules. At NWA they sometimes fly planes late at night with no passengers to reposition them when the schedule changes the next day. That could have been the case with this plane and they decided to throw 5 passengers on it as long as it was flying to London.

I could go on but it would probably be a waste of time explaining it to some of the dipshits on here.

[EarthFirst]

I think this blog has switched from being about an outraged environmental movement complaining about an inefficient usage of fuel to an attack on left by right.

[DJC75001]

Not to worry. Anthropomorphic Global Warming is a fraud and about to be proven to be such. Three different solar cycles peaked about two years ago and are now on the decline. Gobal temperature dropped this year alone by 1/2 to 1 degree. We're going to see much more. Earlier this week, we got an inch of snow in Dallas. Tonight it's supposed to be 1 to 3 inches here and up to 5 just out of town. This is the weather pattern of the 1950s and 60s.

Al Gore is being sued for financial fraud for pushing this myth while at the same time selling Carbon offsets, hence committing financial fraud.

Google [ "global warming" solar ] for lots and lots of stories refuting this fraud.

When people die of hypothermia, just remember "Al Gore lied, people died".

[MissouriMule]

Well, I for one am glad to see that so many of you fanatical right-wing republican anti-environment nutjobs read the Huffington Post. Maybe if you keep reading the HP, eventually, you might be able to see past the Limbaugh and Hannity induced fog you are living in and see the truth for yourselves. We are destroying the planet by digging up and giddily burning millions of years worth of carbon stored in the earth in just a few decades, and-putting necessary modes of transportation aside-much of it just to play with our Hummers, RV's, jetskis and ATV's.

I know its easy and fun to ridicule those of us who want to slowdown our mad rush to annihilate life on Earth but eventually I guarantee that you will regret the years you spent spouting the drivel put in your heads by right-wing hate radio and being part of the problem instead of being part of the solution. Of course by then, we will all be facing the dire consequences of our actions much like the Britons who ignored the dangers posed by Hitler for so long and who called Churchill crazy for being alarmed by the Nazi buildup.

Your irrational rage toward the great statesman, scientist, and humanitarian, Al Gore proves that you study no reputable sources of news and science, and believe me, it shows! Reserving your praise and adulation, as you surely do, for the war-mongering, smirking, dullard that now occupies the White House will bring our whole planet nothing but grief and regret!

[Yerbatera]

A part of me agrees with you. The problem with environmentalists is that they has been ignored for so long, and the planet is so damaged (and many egoiste people just don't care) that they must call the attention by any means to be heard (like the way is happening with the whales). I think it is a very damaging to fly an empty airplane..­. I wonder... why the airline don't give free tickets when the airplane is empty to avoid this environmental stuff?
If the companies weren't so eager for money... earth could last a little longer... and saving human lives would be more rewarding.

[xvra]

Well I see another person who has not done their homework.
!. this is not "damaging" the earth
2. There is no "global warming"
3. Comparing Whales is like comparing apples and bananas
4. Most people are waking up to what any good farmer or rancher has always known
6. It is unfortunate that the "security" takes so long that these flights can't be taken advantage of by those who could use the break in price.
7. Most vocal environmentalists are so off the mark that no wonder a fact may get over looked
8. Eco-terrorists defame the good work of practical practitioners,of good land use and sustainability
9. Think of the fact that errors by so called environmentalists, mean that the public is less likely to listen when a real problem is uncovered.
10. Let us stand back and get all the facts and start to understand how business works
and see ways of improving it. If we could speed up the security lines and get the word out when a "deadhead" flight is available then think of the savings and increased profits.

[TooManyGovtYahoos]

All good and valid points, we said by you. Unfortunately these eco-nazis are tunnel sighted and can only see what they have been programed to see. They really are unable to think for themselves and don't try to confuse them with logic or reason, they would not recognize it if it bit them in their behind.

[avnctek]

cmk1967 is right

[Halteclere]

Exactly.

This plane has a schedule of flying from Point A to Point B to Point C back to Point A. Or flies from Point A to Point B then back to Point A. Either way, just because one leg of the trip is near empty does not mean that any other legs of the trip are near empty.

Now, if this condition became the norm then I expect the airline will adjust their trip schedules accordingly.

And, for all we know, that cargo bay of the plane was stocked full of delivered goods. How many people think that items shipped from the US to Europe or the other direction actually travel by sea, instead of occupying unused space in airline holds? I know the package I sent to Germany last week was flown there in some manner.

[humuhumunukunukuapuaa]

I am all for protecting the environment and against wasting fuel. Before passing judgment on an empty transatlantic flight, you have to know: Was the plane needed to carry people back from London? Or to take people from London to elsewhere? I all for saving the Earth - I am even a card-carrying member of the Sierra Club - but these kind of half-assed judgments is what gives environmentalists a bad name.

[xvra]

well said!!

[arthuride]

In economics there is two golden rules: (1) He who has the gold, he makes the rules; and, (2) The customer is always right. I do not agree with AA's decision, but it was their business call. I disagree with environmental groups that act like terrorists, as I support the rights of all people to choose their own destiny; thus I support abortion on demand, the right to an education if there is a concerted effort to learn and not just occupy a seat, the right to protest (anything), the right to die with dignity by choosing one's own time and method of demise, etc. A liberal is liberal in all things, not just in a few matters.

[diamndpeace]

Why couldn't the airline simply sell those seats at rock-bottom last minute prices? I'm sure loads want to go to London for $150 or something. The airline would have lost less money on that flight, and the environmentalists wouldnt be pissed off. That would have been awesome to be on that flight though. Total reign on the plane!

[BrainWashedSheeple]

Supply and demand.

[HenryXIII]

So this must be the place where the inmates are running that asylum.

1) The earth has no "friends" and doesn't need them, its been whirling in space for many billions of years and will do so for many billiions of years to come despite the efforts of idiots and fools who call themselves "green".

2) The basis of all human consumption on the face of the earth is based upon having the ability to pay (in cash or credit) for what one consumes, either collectively or individually. ergo: Fuel like anything else cannot be "wasted", only consumed.

3) Since no airline "consumes" fuel with the idea that it will cause them to "waste" cash, literally all transatlanitc flights are always "full" even if there is no one but a crew aboard. Because most of you are mouth breathing idiots, you do not know that transatlantic flights carry cargo in lieu of passengers as weight permits - thus obviating the need for additional transatlantic cargo flights.

4) If you want to "save the earth" by your own dim-witted calculation, then ban private jets - the ones the elite "environme­ntalists", hollywood fools, and know-nothing politicians gad about in - Good luck you green idiots.

[EarthFirst]

1. I prefer to think of the earth's friends as "viceregents" who take care of the earth for future generations so that they may also enjoy its resources.

2. "Wasted in this sense refers to inefficient consumption. Clearly, this was a case of inefficient capital allocation.

3. Continuing and elaborating point 2, how was the flight full if only 5 passengers were aboard? I understand that cargo was being transported, but the fact that there was excess capacity anywhere on the plane means that the airline wasn't maximizing supply.

4. We are working on it. 2008! Enjoy your Prius.

[TakeTheRedPill]

Wow King Henry, I'm actually dumber for having read that post.

Are you suggesting that Corp CEO's do not fly priviate jets?

& while I'm sure you could make a great case for Green folks being idiots, I think it's a far easier case to make in the opposite political direction.­.. Considering that the 2nd leading candidate in the Republican primaries doesn't believe in Evolution (or reverse evolution) in your case.

Cheers,
Neo

[TG3b]

Ha! I love it! You are so right. People give themselves too much power and think they control everything that happens to the earth. In fact there are studies that show it is the sun that controls global warming and CO2 levels, just as it was shown that it is the sun controls the ozone layer. CO2 is only a small part of the earths cycle. It does not control our earths temperature. By the way do these "green idiots" even understand where fuel comes from? Fuel comes from oil, and what is oil? All oil is is decomposed living matter. Anything whether it be plants, animals or people, once it dies and decomposes, it's oils seep into the earth and create our fuel. So how would it be possible that fuel would cause so much damage when it comes from the earth to begin with? I love your comment about banning all these private jets as well. Some of these so-called environmentalists are usually some of the biggest hippocrates of all.

[TG3b]

Sorry I spelled "hypocrites" wrong, my mistake.

[EarthFirst]

wow....tha­nks for the lesson - (1) i was under the impression that supply and demand was the golden rule of economics, (2) customer is always right is an outdated cliche applying to business management. Now, if economics is your topic - it is inefficient to fly a plane at such a reduced capacity, they should have cut ticket prices or diverted small flights from nearby regions. Inefficiently allocating 22,000 gallons is not equating marginal costs with marginal benefits.

[baldie]

As pointed out above, a plane with no passengers is not an empty plane. A 777 could carry up to 100 tons or more of cargo with no passengers on board. American Airlines would have known far in advance that there were few passengers scheduled, so they would have sold cargo space. The assumption you make, falsely, is that passengers alone are the cargo on all flights. That is not true. So, what is more inefficient; flying 100 tons of cargo on a 777 using 22,000 gallons of fuel, or using one Gulfstream to fly an Al Gore around the sorld a few times so he can give one of his $200,000 lectures on how terrible it is to waste energy?

[freelancer172]

That's it, I'm going to drive 100 miles today for no reason....­just because I can

[EarthFirst]

I bet you cannot....­average gas price is approaching $3.40 US. If you can afford to do it everyday, i'll send you a solicitation to donate to the broke PhD student fund.

[xvra]

Oh dear, are we off the subject. The educational tomes of the previous writers has not sunk in.

[Realisticat]

It is causes like this that keep many from taking tree lovers very serious. I promise that this plane polluted no more than the five houses that environmentalists burnt to the ground in protest a few days ago.

In a way, I'm impressed that American Airlines put its customers needs ahead of its bottom line in this instance.

[EarthFirst]

Do you know what 22,000 gallons of fuel would look like? Let's say that the perimeter of a house is measured as 200 ft X 4 walls thats a value of 800, now for 5 houses that's 4000. I even gave you the benefit of the doubt by considering a huge house. Still, nowhere near 22,000 gallons of high octane jet fuel.

[TurnBrainOn]

CBS reported that the houses burned (4 houses) were between 4200 and 4750 sq. ft. each.

Lets look at a 4200 sq. ft. house. If that house has 8 ft. high ceilings (a conservative estimate), then 4200 sq. ft. times 8 ft. gives 33,600 cu. ft.

There are 7.48 gallons in one cubic foot, so 33,600 cu. ft. times 7.48 gallons per cu. ft. gives roughly 250,000 gallons. Multiplying this by 4 (4 houses burned) gives 1,000,000 gallons.

1,000,000 is much higher than 22,000.

Think about what you are saying before your fingers just start clicking away...

[BrainWashedSheeple]

Where is the fury over the obscene amount of CO2 released daily by volcanoes? Or from arson by the E.L.F.?

Please please please let the 5 people on the flight be Libs... that would just be TOO sweet.

[freelancer172]

I agree....t­his crap is getting ridiculously out of control.
What we all need to do is put our carbon footprint on their backsides!

[Yerbatera]

If you haven't noticed... Humans can't control volcanoes!!!

[mightyearth]

I agree,
Complain all you want, but it's still more effecient that Al Gore flying alone in his Jet!

[escobar]

So, if there are passengers on the other end in London what are they supposed to tell them? The plane is not going to fly the route until it fills up on the other end? One late plane throws off schedules everywhere when the weather is bad. They have to move the planes to maintain the schedules and really do not want to cancel flights.
They can book the passengers on another flight at times but at some point the people want to get to where they are going at the appointed time. That is why they fly rather than take a boat.
If the ecologists are upset, imagine how the Airline feels?
Things may not be as they seem.
Hopefully, they had enough frieight in the hold to pay for the fuel or even make money. Then, the lack of passengers would not be as bad as it sounds at all. That would be do-able if they had the freight waiting to move. A A does fly frieghters too. People would be surprised at the tonnage the company moves besides passengers but all they ever see are the passenger planes.
Still over time, passenger planes need an ass in just about every chair in order to make money!

[ohiomark]

Those 5 passengers paid for their tickets and they should have been taken to London. American Airlines is a private company and if they want to burn 22,000 gallons of fuel, that's their problem. If it cuts into their profits, then they will have to answer to their shareholders and the end of the day.

There is not shortage of fuel, only a shortage of politicans who have the guts to buck the enviromental wackos to let us drill in our own country.

Get over yourselves Libs, you can't change the climate.

[dadw5boys]

Well you have to breath the same air as we do.

Only your not smart enough to speak up and say hey you don't need to contaminate 6,000,000,000 metric tons of air with jet exhaust for 5 people.

[BrainWashedSheeple]

You know what released more CO2 into the air than that flight?

The fires that your eco-buddies, the Earth Liberation Front set up in Washington State.

[diamndpeace]

And YOU'RE not smart enough to use proper grammar or spell "breathe" correctly, you libtard enviro-nazi.

[dadling]

waaaaa !!!! Waaaaaaa !!!!!!

Good for the Airline...­.good for business..­..

Enviromentalist's are finally being called to account for their foolishnes­s....

It's about time....id­iots, all of them...

[EnvironmentalRealist]

There are so many things wrong with this, grammatical errors notwithstanding, where do I begin? At the beginning of course.

I do, in fact, breathe the same air and this morning when I came into work, something that PhD students can seldom comprehend, it was 25 degrees BELOW normal. Global warming? I could use a little right now.

How much does air weigh exactly? As I was standing next to the scale, it said zero. You would have thought with all the air above it, it should have read 6B tons. Or is that the tare weight?

How many people and how much cargo are on Al's jet when he is traipsing about the world promoting his hypocritical "Nobel Prize" winning philosophies for which there is, according to him, a consensus. Funny thing is, when you search for "Global Warming" on Amazon, four of the top six books listed are debunking books. Looks to me like there's more talk against it.

If Friends of the Earth had their way, all planes would be in Florida, California and Arizona right now.

[laurielu]

Ahem.. well, that would be "you'RE".. but nevermind that. What were you saying about smart?

[EarthFirst]

It makes no difference whether or not American is a public, private, non-profit, co-op, whatever. Externalities exist regardless of the firm's governance structure - they should have reduced ticket costs or given more incentives to travel agents once they realized that the flight was going to be drastically below capacity.

[GAC1]

Exactly how many reduced price tickets to you think you could sell to London same day just a few hours before flight time. This is not reality.

[TakeTheRedPill]

"Libs, you can't change the climate."

Uhhh... Earth to OhioMark..­. we already have! although certainly not at the same rate as our Hummer2 driving conservative friends.

Let's try a little expirament so you can understand the concept of global warming. Okay... Close all the windows in your house & set fire to the carpet... Now let me know when the ice in your fridge melts and floods your kitchen.

You people really scare me.

[ohiomark]

The earth's temperature has NOT gone up since 1998 and this year it has dropped 1 degree. Are we causing that too?

Global warming has never been about science. It's about global socialism. They just use "junk science" to push the agenda. Why do you think the UN is involved?