But while responsibility ultimately lies with governments and airlines, what role can travellers play? Not jet owners, but ordinary frequent flyers; those whose annual holidays, business trips or family visits add up over time.
For Smith, Thompson and Asher, the answer is simply acknowledging that every flight has an impact – and being willing to let that awareness shape our choices. “I choose to not fly, but on the rare occasions I do it, I recognise I am harming the planet,” Asher said. “So then what I ask myself is, ‘what can I do about it?'”
Smith, who hasn’t flown as a passenger in six years, agrees. “If you need to fly – and I apply that to myself, too – just make sure it’s a very conscious, intentional decision,” he said. “I think in the long-term that can change the entire meaning of travelling.”
To support that, Thompson has developed a passenger action checklist on Bumprints that helps travellers think through a trip from the moment it’s first suggested. “It starts with asking whether the journey is truly necessary,” she said. “Could you travel another way, or combine reasons to travel into one flight rather than several?”
When flying is needed, small shifts can still make a difference: taking one longer trip instead of several short ones; choosing trains for regional travel; combining business and leisure trips; or avoiding business class, which carries a much higher carbon cost per seat. Those who travel for work can also ask employers whether business-travel emissions are measured or capped in their climate plans, and to choose airlines participating in contrail-avoidance trials, such as Delta, British Airways and Etihad Airways (a full list can be found here) – a change researchers say could significantly cut aviation’s warming impact for just a few pounds or dollars per flight.
