The true cost of frequent flyer reward schemes

Our new report has found that achieving lifetime membership status of a frequent flyer programme (FFP) could require emitting more than 1,800 tonnes of greenhouse gases per person.

That’s 34 times your lifetime carbon budget. It’s time to put an end to these pointless flights.

Research conducted on FFPs offered by airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic showed that flying enough to qualify for different levels of membership requires carbon emissions at least seven times higher and as much as 112 times higher than the average UK air travel footprint of 0.83 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) each year.

The highest level of annual membership required flights emitting 92.8 tonnes of CO2e each year. That’s the equivalent of putting more than 40 cars on the road.

Our analysis found FFPs are a key part of airlines’ business model as they drive ticket sales and incentivise customers to pay for the most carbon-intensive seating options in business or first class, and to fly more than they otherwise would.

We’re calling for an immediate end to the offering of frequent flyer programmes by airlines operating in the UK, along with the introduction of a frequent flyer levy and a kerosene tax. This would help to reduce excessive, wasteful consumption of high-carbon travel by a small group of people, and more accurately reflect the real cost of flying for our climate. A tax on jet fuel should also be introduced to help reflect the climate damage caused by aviation emissions.

Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at Possible, said:

“We need urgent action to protect the climate, but frequent flyer reward programmes are sending emissions soaring in the wrong direction. Airlines are incentivising a small group of incredibly frequent flyers to take flights they don’t even want, just to get points - while people around the world pay the real price as they face dangerous heatwaves and out of control wildfires. Airlines need to end this irresponsible behaviour, and stop awarding points for pollution.”