Living in the lap of luxury comes with its pros and cons. The pros are that you could fly private and have the entire flight to yourself. And the cons could be that the public might hold you accountable for the environmental harm caused by your jet.
That’s precisely where luxury brands conglomerate LVMH found itself after users on Twitter set up accounts such as ‘I Fly Bernard’ and ‘Bernard’s Plane’ to literally track the corporate jet dedicated to its owner Bernard Arnault.
Spooked by the online surveillance, Arnault has relinquished ownership of the company vehicle in favor of renting one when necessary, he told Radio Classique in France (via Bloomberg). He went on to say that now no one can detect his location when he travels.
Critics have cited the Twitter accounts as proof of the pollution emitted when the plane charters the CEO and his employees around.
Such calling-outs have even caught the eyes of French politicians, who have since issued bans and taxes on flying private.
The CEO’s son, Antoine Arnault, stepped in last week to defend his father on a French television show and proclaimed that the use of the jet was strictly for work. Furthermore, he stated that such tracking can put the business at risk as competitors will be privy to their flight details and may be able to gain leads on what the company is up to just from their destination.