Bumper-to-bumper in traffic is already a pain, but sometimes it's hard to avoid on the way to or from work. One San Francisco Bay Area commuter took to Reddit after their irritation quickly spiraled into anger when they spotted a private jet taking off from Oakland Airport.
"I was stuck in traffic and saw a private jet plane taking off in the sky," they said in the post. "I hope at least that the jet was filled with passengers instead of just one wealthy sod."
After checking the flight data from the app Flightradar24, the driver found that the jet was making a 30-mile trip from Oakland to San Jose — in other words, a simple 17-minute flight. Nonetheless, the original poster said the puddle jumper likely released about 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide, according to available online calculations that factor in flight information. To put that into perspective, that's roughly the amount of carbon the average car produces over six months of driving, all burned in less than 20 minutes.
Oakland is a mere 40-minute drive to San Jose without traffic, and both cities are accessible via multiple modes of public transportation. There are also carpool and express lanes to bypass traffic, if necessary. Taking a private jet to travel that little distance is quite excessive. And the broader environmental implications are nothing to sneeze at.
Short private flights, though convenient, are among the most carbon-intensive forms of travel. Studies show that private jets release 10 to 20 times more CO₂ per passenger than commercial planes, and up to 50 times more than trains.
In one case, model Kylie Jenner's 17-minute flight drew outrage for its "absolute disregard for the planet."
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To be fair, some members of the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit believe the flight was made specifically to reposition the aircraft rather than for a rich person to circumvent traffic. Many others called out the irony that the OP was using artificial intelligence to determine how much carbon pollution the flight produced, in addition to driving in a car and not taking public transit themselves.
"My dude asking an AI about the environmental impact of planes is so on the nose and incompetent that I can't believe this is a serious post," one commenter quipped.
At the end of the day, the Reddit thread was less about one plane and more about the bigger picture of how we get from A to B. Whether it was a repositioning flight or not, the post highlights how even short hops in private jets can pack a big environmental punch compared to everyday commutes.
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How much time do you spend commuting in the car each week? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Over an hour a day 😭 
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