Bumble - A lay view of those things in the sky

Less class, more cattle

Airbus A380s bring a new meaning to 'cattle class'. But they do have their upsides.

As a socially conscious individual with a carbon footprint the size of a small African state, I'm already preparing responses as to why I'm flying to Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Summit (twice) next month....

'It's fine, I'm off-setting.' / 'The talks are about governments, not individuals.' / 'Yes, I flew. Ironic, huh.' / 'Hypocritical, me? What's two flights to Bangladesh?'

....Obviously, the first one is a lie.

But the good news is that, as the Telegraph reports:

"With 840 passengers on board ... the plane would use two litres of fuel per passenger per 100 kilometres, about half that of a Toyota Prius hybrid car with just the driver inside."

So flying economy is no longer only restricted to those who can't splash £1,000 per trip but also the environmentally aware. Cue: "Of course, I normally fly business darling, but I'm watching the old footprint." And perhaps smug executives from smug companies will start having to travel A380 as part of the business' corporate social responsibility.

But I've always been happy in economy anyway. I've never enough energy to watch more than one film and when glass of wine gets you tipsy at high altitude, it's really not painful to pay.

The only time I have flown first class on a long haul, I indulged in too much champagne before take off and too much seafood during the flight only to find myself staring down every toilet bowl in between connecting flights at Madrid airport.

So here's to the Airbus A380.