Before my trip, I knew that flying was one of the more carbon-intensive transportation options. Aviation makes up about 2% of global carbon emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
Two months after my business-class flight, I was chatting with sustainability experts about how to make trips and vacations more sustainable. They told me that a large part of a vacation's carbon footprint will likely come from the flight, and if I do need to fly to my destination, it's more responsible to sit in economy class.
That's because a business-class seat takes up significantly more space on a plane. This means that fewer passengers can fit onto the aircraft and, therefore, there's a larger carbon footprint.
For example, a business-class row of seats on Air New Zealand's Boeing 787-9 fits three people. Meanwhile, a row in economy on the same plane fits nine passengers. Those nine people have a much smaller personal carbon footprint than the three sitting in business class.
As someone who never had the chance to sit in premium economy, much less business class, before this trip, I hadn't considered the different carbon footprints each cabin class has on planes.
As I continue searching for more sustainable ways to travel, like train travel, I'm also booking economy for future flights.