NBC news reported Tuesday night that BA has flown several empty planes from London Heathrow to the United States to keep their slots available at Heathrow. Placing all the passengers on one plane and flying an empty means no flight attendants but enviromentalists content this is a wasteful practice.

www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1924865/posts

How is this wasteful? Don't those so-called "environmentalists" have better things to do?

It makes more sense (for the airlines) to do this rather than fly two planes 1/3 to 1/2 full.

I still like the idea of having a row to myself.

Yeah, it's true, but the real reason is BA cannot round up enough cabin crew so they shift pax to other flights and fly empty planes.

Nice to have row to yourself but no eats or liquids!

Are you sure they weren't full of lost baggage being sent to the auction house outside Atlanta?

Probably full of wally's empty wine bottles being brought back for recycling.

Wally: you sure started a fun thread --- for us all to take the mickey out of BA .... and you !!!!

Before making any judgments, I'd rather see an original story, not a third-hand account that appeared on a biased web site like Free Republic of what was originally a second-hand account on an opinion TV show anyway.

Ed

Sure!!

http://tinyurl.com/2tfxsf

"How is this wasteful? Don't those so-called "environmentalists" have better things to do?"

A few flights can mean the release of thousands of tons of CO2 and other crap, and international aviation's emissions have already almost doubled since 1990 (while Europe's overall emissions fell in the same period) -- much of it concentrated in the north-mid Atlantic skies. (And by the way, did you know that airlines don't pay tax on fuel for international flight?)

Know air travel means more than just about anything, but unless you're willing to give up your car, turn down your lights, and shut off your AC, every flight you take adds a chunk of carbon to your "footprint."

I fly a fair amount, too, and generally love it; but I'm learning that aviation is a bigger problem than I'd imagined.

cfc - These flights are not flying empty both ways on the same day.

Those people's problem are not with BA. They are with air travel overall. But they're already starting to win these wars, with some European countries like the Netherlands proposing huge increase in air travel tax.

If that's what you want, fine. Less air travel, drastically higher prices. Like travel was 50 years ago.

But don't pick on BA.

No part of dealing with environmental problems is going to be easy, cheap, or painless. If it were, you wouldn't see so much squawking, denying, and attacking coming from vested interests who want the right to continue consuming or fouling the environment, or even increase doing that.

"Don't pick on BA"

You always pick on Heathrow.

<i>You always pick on Heathrow</i>

how can you not?

Unfortunately I have to fly through the hellhole twice next month. I'll live but I'm not looking forward to it......

A very dear friend from near FRA was the ONLY passenger on a Lufthansa flight (ORD-FRA) a few years ago. He got topnotch treatment in 1st class. I won't bore you with details of his missed flight the night before, or that he wanted to fly LH and not UA; what a lucky break for him. He still talks about this flight.

Heathrow is rather horrid.

A flight that is empty of passengers isn't necessarily empty of cargo. On North Atlantic routes, many carriers can make so much on cargo that they don't have to carry passengers to make a profit&mdash;and if they do find passengers, they are 100% gravy.

You won't find this reflected in ticket prices, though.