Canadian Consumers May Be Guilty of ‘Little Green Lies’
September 14, 2010FlightNetwork.com, one of Canada’s highest volume online travel sales sites, today announced the results of their second ‘State of Air Travel Poll,’ aimed at giving Canadians a voice to weigh-in on the biggest issues facing the travel industry in 2010.
FlightNetwork.com’s poll focussing on green air travel reveals that although 55.2% of the 752 Canadians polled indicated that the green programs of air carriers ‘were important to them,’ a whopping 82.4% cited the lowest prices as their top factor in choice of air carrier. Price was followed by availability of flight times/departure dates at 75.4% and customer service at 21.5%. Green programs only accounted for 2.7% of the factors that Canadians take into consideration when choosing an air carrier.
“During these difficult financial times, it’s understandable that financial concerns could outweigh environmental issues with well meaning Canadian consumers,” said Naman Budhdeo, CEO of FlightNetwork.com. “Consumers can still make a difference by choosing to fly with carriers like Air Canada that offer a carbon offset program, or putting some of the savings from discount air fares towards purchasing carbon offsets directly from organizations like zerofootprint.”
Additional questions revealed for 65.7% of Canadians polled, green issues did not factor into their air carrier decision and 83.8% of Canadians who booked in the past year were unaware of the green programs that their airline had in place.
Running until December 2010, the State of Air Travel Poll will utilize FlightNetwork.com’s Blog, Facebook page and customer database to reach Canadians and ask for their input. Poll topics will cover a range of issues including green travel, plus sized passengers, if cell phones should be allowed on planes and Canada’s best and worst airports.
