Ecorazzi

Here’s some odd news to kick off your Monday. Apparently, an airline in the UK called Flybe advertised for actors to masquerade as passengers to avoid a more than $500,000 penalty fine for having too many empty seats. Wow. They even put on extra flights, offered free trips and put its own staff on stand-by to fly in the event that seats were not filled. Why the desperation? From the article,

“The terms of the deal stated Norwich Airport would charge Flybe £280,000 if it did not fly 15,000 passengers on the Norwich to Dublin route during 2007-2008. The airline was 172 passengers short by the deadline, prompting the unusual move to commandeer actors.”

It’s rather hilarious that they advertised for actors — I mean, really, what does it take to come across as a passenger on an airline? Can you imagine putting that down on your resume? “Character, Seat2B, Norwich to Dublin, Flybe Airlines”.

And yes, the environmental impact of flying needlessly did bring the matter to the attention of various green groups. Said Airport director, Richard Jenner, ‘It doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of the agreement. But more than anything our concerns are about the unnecessary impact on the environment. We try here to justify the impact we have on the environment. One of the reasons we like to have Flybe here is that they say they are also concerned about the environment.”

As a result, Flybe does plan to offset the additional carbon emissions. The ridicule, however, will take a bit longer to deflect.

via marie claire