Sustainability in the air continues to be an important focus topic. Lufthansa is trying to get you to carbon offset in the place however you may least expect it – in your seat aboard the aircraft.
Pay for the CO2 emissions of your flight? Image, Lufthansa.
The airline is testing a new service that allows passengers to offset the CO2 emissions of their air travel directly on board.
Lufthansa passengers can take advantage of the offer on short- and medium-haul flights with Internet connectivity to and from Munich. The Lufthansa Group airline SWISS will also introduce the test offer on selected long-haul aircraft.
How does it work?
The feature is displayed to passengers in the onboard entertainment system. There, they can use a slider to choose how they wish to offset the CO2 emissions of their flight – either via Sustainable Aviation Fuel made from biogenic residues, via high-quality carbon offset projects run by the non-profit organization myclimate, or via a combination of both options.
Passengers can use the service free of charge via the in-flight Internet on their mobile devices.
In the new application, passengers can see directly how many passengers have already offset the CO2 emissions of their individual flight on that day and thus become part of a growing community.
The new offer uses the technology of the “Compensaid” platform for CO2-neutral air travel developed by the Lufthansa Innovation Hub in 2019 (compensaid.com). It has been integrated into the booking platforms of Lufthansa Group Airlines and is also an integral part of the Miles & More app.
This will only work if passengers are guilted into using it
Whilst Lufthansa is trying to move to halve its CO2 emissions compared to 2019 by 2030, as well as fleet modernisation, the use of sustainable aviation fuels and so on, an initiative like this will live or die on customer participation.
The trick will be how to guilt the passengers into paying to offset their emissions.
That could be a real challenge to be met. Some airlines have gone down the line of adding such a fee at booking (be voluntary or slipped into the ticketing fee).
But a passenger willing to pay for what they might see to be an “extra” without material benefit, other than the “‘good karma”, could be a very tough sell indeed.
I’d honestly, be interested in the percentage of passengers paying to offset on these flights. If I was a betting person, I’d put the numbers to be low.
Very low.
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I wonder if they would get in trouble if they just lit their money on fire in-flight instead.
Unfortunately, credit cards are teh way to go. No cash. Burning plastic in the air is a no-no…
I love these scams. I only wish I had gotten in on them early when they first started popping up in the late 9os.