Derrie-Air claims to be the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline. From
its website:
Welcome to Derrie-Air, the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, where you don't have to choose between living the high life and saving the planet. Nine out of ten scientists agree—we need to reduce our carbon emissions or perish from the face of the earth. Air travel is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions and global warming. Derrie-Air will be the only airline that plants trees to offset every pound of carbon that our planes release into the atmosphere.
But not only will we do our part to protect the environment, we will expect you, our passengers, to do your part as well. The magic comes from our one of a kind "Sliding Scale"—the more you weigh, the more you'll pay. After all, it takes more fuel—more energy—to get more weight from point A to point B. So we will charge passengers based on how much mass they add to the plane. The heavier you and your luggage are, the more trees we'll plant to make up for the trouble of flying you from place to place.
The reality is that Derrie-Air doesn't exist. It's a fake company dreamed up by Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of the
Philadelphia Inquirer and
Philadelphia Daily News. In addition to creating the Derrie-Air site, they also ran Derrie-Air ads in their papers as a marketing test "to demonstrate the power of our brands, in print and online, to drive traffic awareness -- in this case for a brand that doesn’t exist and is fictitious." More details in
Editor & Publisher, and on
MSNBC.
I predict this will become a case of satirical prophecy, in that it won't be long before airlines actually are implementing measures such as charging by the pound. (Thanks, Rebecca)
Comments
If you're going to pull a prank, JUST DO IT. You can always explain later, if you must. The disclaimers do nothing but kill the joke.
"Come visit our county and enjoy the dairy air!"
Now - if, somehow, that quip would be satirical prophecy, with "come smell our dairy air," becoming the new tourism board motto...
BTW Alex, my random security word was EARTH. It was random, right?
Well, even if airlines arent yet prepared to accept the wrath of the fat public, people certainly think it's a good idea.(Thin people I presume)
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,23871863-5014090,00.html
Charge obesity, not luggage fees
Weight debate ... some News.com.au readers feel aggrieved that they are paying extra weight fees on their luggage, while overweight passengers should be footing the bill AIRLINES should punish obese passengers for their weight instead of charging costly checked luggage charges, say readers.
Reacting angrily to news that Australian airlines are forcing passengers to pay extra luggage fees, readers said overweight travellers should be footing the bill, with one reader suggesting they be seated in "super-size" class.
... etc
Pretenting to charge obesity while being called Butt is an intended pun obvious to a French speaking personn.