Going green

PLANET FRIENDLY TRAVEL NEWS BY

An airline wants passengers not to pack any clothes and to ditch their luggage ahead of flying.

Japan Airlines’ new scheme lets customers book a set of clothes ahead of their flight, then receive them at their hotel upon arrival. Once the holiday is done and the garments are no longer needed, the passenger returns them to be washed and sent on to another person.

The scheme, which runs until August 2024, is called Any Wear, Anywhere and is designed to cut carbon emissions by reducing the weight of planes and saving fuel.

The airline estimates that saving 10kg of luggage saves 7.5kg of emissions on a flight from Tokyo to New York. The same flight produces two tons of emissions per passenger, so reducing that amount by 7.5kg is not an enormous amount, but is better than nothing.

Two weeks ahead of a trip passengers sign up for the scheme and choose items from a number of different options. They can pick the gender, what season they’re for, whether they want smart or casual, and how many tops and bottoms.

Their selections will be waiting for them at the hotel, for prices that range between £28 and £38 for the whole period.

Miho Moriya, who came up with the idea, said: “When we travel abroad, there are hotels and restaurants that provide lodging and food on site, but not clothing. Why do we have to bring our clothes from home?”

The clothes are either pre-owned or sourced from company overstock.

Since the scheme started in July, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, Miho said, with requests from “all over the world and over 115 countries in total”.

At the end, Japan Airlines will announce the amount of emissions prevented.

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