Start with the Right Flight Booking Website
Do you want to make a significant climate difference by tweaking the way you travel? Your first step is to start with a website that actually allows you to consider carbon emissions.
- Google Flights - Good. Shows emissions and allows sorting by emissions. "Best" options may take emissions into account.
- Skyscanner - Limited. Has a low emissions button that eliminates any high emissions flights, but the button's functionality doesn't allow for nuanced tradeoffs.
- Expedia, Booking.com, Trip.com - Have corporate associations with the Travel Impact Model that calculates flight carbon emissions but they don't show any emissions information.
Currently Flights.Google has the most transparent flexible emissions interface of the booking tools listed above and so we'll use this in our examples below.
Then Look For Carbon Numbers
Look for Flights with Green Emissions Markings
If a flight with a green emissions tag has a price and timing that works for your itinerary, choose it. It is always better to avoid generating emissions than to try and compensate after the fact. So consider a higher cost flight instead of purchasing carbon credits.
Avoid Higher Emissions if Possible
Ideally, high emissions would be highlighted in red, but Google does not currently flag flights with emissions significantly above average. Now that you know to look at the carbon information, try to avoid flights with emissions that are more than 10 or 20% above average.
Sort By Emissions to become a Super User
If you want to go further, use the option in Google Flights to sort by emissions.
Consider Other Travel Modes
FlyBetter allows you to compare different modes of travel, an option not offered elsewhere.* If you think driving is feasible, use our tool to estimate whether it saves carbon.
One reason for the FlyBetter comparison tool is that there aren’t easy answers or rules. Driving is better in some situations and not others. < TODO Link >
Additional Ways to Make a Difference
Connect Trips
Linking trips together can save large amounts of carbon. If you fly across the US once to visit two friends, rather than flying twice for two separate visits, you’ve just saved as much carbon as not driving 2,700 miles in a Prius.
Fly During the Day
Jet contrails generated at night create a blanket over the Earth. This blanket traps additional heat that would otherwise dissipate into space. This is a highly warming effect on top of the effects of carbon emissions.
Pack Lightly
Additional weight means additional fuel burned by the aircraft. If you take a 50lb suitcase onboard a plane, it is equivalent to an additional child boarding the flight.
Share This Knowledge
Now that you know that FlyingBetter is easy and impactful, increase your impact by letting others know about this information and FlyBetter.org.