To be pissed off at people who constantly say we need to fly less?

[lockdowncockdown]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but here goes. Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed by the people who constantly say 'well, we need to fly less anyway'. Well, yes that's ok for you to say at 40/50 years old after you've spent the last 20 years flying all over the world and brandishing yourself as ' well travelled' and cultured. What about those of us in our early twenties like me who has been abroad four times in my whole life, not even to anywhere particularly exciting and I'm just about to finish university and was hoping to finally be able to travel a bit? It's ok to spout nonsense about flying less when you've been lucky and already had your experiences but I find it very hypocritical to want to deny others the same experiences that you were lucky enough to have.

@comingintomyown - I didn’t play any role in WW2 but I’m not on here bleating about the particular deprivations of growing up or arriving at maturity when I did.

Oh well. Nice of you to get offended on behalf of those who did.

emz771 All fair enough but they're all economic issues. If money is put into each they can be sorted, it's the money coming from travel not the travel itself

But there would be no money.

In my experience the people who tell me to stop flying are also the ones with two big cars, three children and buy all their produce in plastic packaging which they don't recycle.

I'm going to keep going on my annual holiday. I don't care what the others think.

It looks as if flying will be a great deal more expensive in future, really it has been far too cheap.

I agree with this. And it has only been in the last 25 years or so that flights have become so ridiculously cheap. When I was a child ( 35-45 years ago) we visited family in Italy every other year and we went by train as flights were so expensive

Grandparents never went abroad

Parents never went abroad. But encouraged me to travel & experience the things that they had not

Flights, booking transport & accommodation became much cheaper & easier after the internet, when the tourist industry became more competitive

When I was younger, I worked with people that originated from a far away destination. I never thought that I would ever visit their country and see it for myself & I was comfortable with that.
Since the internet, with a couple of clicks. I've booked several trips to different parts of that country & enjoyed the travel

To experience a country, is not the same as armchair travel
The smells, the tastes, the climate, the sounds, the things that you could never imagine

People suggesting train are being obtuse - it quite clearly isn’t possible for people with kids etc. @emz771

How? Plenty of people take kids on the train. Generous luggage allowances, no popping eardrums, you can leave your seat at any time to go to the toilet or explore... So much easier than trying to keep them entertained on a flight. For short haul journeys it's great. ICE trains offer family cabins or you can book an entire compartment in a couchette carriage on an overnight train.

For short haul yes - I’ve said that. But we aren’t getting a train to New York.

I love the "justifications" for the status symbol holidays to Rwanda to see gorillas. Yeah right.

Flying has become too cheap (and rather horrible experience as a consequence. When trains work, they are much nicer to travel on). However I agree with the pp's who said that business travel is the real culprit here and hopefully the last few weeks have shown that in the majority of cases, video meetings work just fine. I am going to a virtual conference on Tuesday morning - my first one - it will be interesting to see if they are a real alternative to getting people from across the globe into a lecture theatre.

Really you think flying has become a horrible experience? I think the last decade has seen massive improvements.

People say this when it doesn't affect them. I could easily say private car usage and home delivery from supermarkets should be abolished as it wouldn't significantly impact me. But that would be selfish and ridiculous.

Some people just do need to fly for various valid reasons.

People suggesting train are being obtuse - it quite clearly isn’t possible for people with kids etc. @emz771**
Of course it is. I also hope that train travel will improve if people use it for longer journeys. Twenty years ago I went on a long train journey in Canada - big luggage was checked in and taken off for you which was far more civilised. Trains in Spain and Italy are generally far better than in the UK. In lots of places, porters help with luggage which is a godsend with young children . We need to up our game!

Only someone who has no comprehension about climate change would start a thread like this.
May I suggest you get your head out of your arse and do some research about it and FYI if you think this pandemic is bad, just check out the kind of pandemics we could have in the future with the worlds temperature increasing and how that will affect viruses in domestic animals like pigs and chickens and how that could ultimately kill us ll off.

Mango, do you imagine much of the population of the African / Indian continents are hopping in planes? Cambodia? Laos? Vietnam?

Vietnam has five carriers and a sixth one the way; their industry is growing at a rapid pace and may experience even more economic growth as companies look to shift out of China for various reasons: www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2019/11/29/why-vietnam-needs-six-airlines/

India has the third largest domestic airline market and plenty of low cost carriers (too many in fact). Indonesia too as you would expect in an island chain.

You are out of date. It’s not just rich Westerners. Loads of low cost carriers in Asia and it’s for the ever growing middle class.

Really you think flying has become a horrible experience? I think the last decade has seen massive improvements.

What massive improvements?

We will fly as soon as we can - my parents and DSis live in Belgium and DH’s parents in Canada and his DSis in the US. We’re use to seeing each other regularly and we’re missing each other.

Better food.
Better entertainment.
WIFI
More equipped to get work done.
More little touches.

I spend a lot each year offsetting my flights with trees planted and rainforest protected. @drcb83
Carbon offset is such a con-trick. www.theguardian.com/environment/2006/oct/18/green.guardiansocietysupplement

We should fly less. I think everyone and companies should have a yearly air miles allowance (maybe let people sell it if they wont use it to those who insist on travelling more), enough for 1 long haul trip there and back or a few short haul trips a year. I usually only go abroad once every few years, but would go yearly if I could afford it.

But I can’t take my kids on an African Safari, to go and do the theme parks in Florida, etc by train.

But you can take them to Disney in Paris (and more often), you can take them skiing in the Alps, see the Giants Causeway, the glorious beaches of Cornwall, walk the pennine way or the length of Hadrians Wall, see the tulip fields of Holland, the many amazing museums of Europe.....

My DCs have had family holidays in the U.K., in France (driven to), once in Portugal (none of us particularly liked that as it was a resort holiday) and a “once in a lifetime” trip to Lapland. They did love Lapland but they both enjoyed our various U.K. holidays the most.

DD went interrailing around Europe when she was 16 and had the time of her life.... no flying involved.

Yes I agree great things to do in Europe - but there are lots of things you absolutely can’t do.

You lost me at people in their 40s and 50s being "the older generation."

I'm 50 and no, I haven't spent my life jetting all over the place. I don't see the need for it.

I think it should take into an account overall emissions of the person🤔 So it's fairer? Like if for example someone wants to vroom around in massive diesel 4x4 and I would drive hybrid that someone should get less miles. Ifyswim
@OmgThereAreNoPlanesAboveMeNow a hybrid is still very damaging, particularly in its manufacture. How about only allocating long haul flights to those whose main method of transport is a bicycle?

How would allocating flight allowances work for those who HAVE to travel via long haul flights for work?!?

I’m someone who would never consider themselves a climate activist but looking at how much cleaner the planet has become in the last couple of months it’s just got to happen.

Plus flights became so cheap people would just pop off for a shopping trip to another country or for a concert or hen night.

DH flys with work and you know what he has managed ok with online communication. It’s made my life a lot easier, when our DS was a baby he was away constantly, I’m hoping business changes.