In a world where some celebrities are being branded “full-time climate criminals” for their excessive use of private jets, Conan O’Brien is down to fly commercial. In fact, he actually prefers it.
Appearing on John Mayer’s How’s Life SiriusXM radio show, Conan previously said that he’d “rather” take a commercial flight so he can “educate” his children — Neve, 22, and Beckett, 20 — about the real world of travel.
“I fly commercial, and I’m fortunate I get to fly in the part of the plane where I get some leg room, which is nice. I was shocked when I found out what people pay [to fly private]. It’s insane,” he said. “It’s going to sound crazy, but I really like to go through and chat up the people at TSA. I don’t mind taking the belt off. I like being in the world with other people that are traveling.”
“Flying commercial is so smart if you don’t want to go broke,” he added, saying that his “rule” is that he’ll only “fly on a private jet if someone else is paying for it.” “If someone is going somewhere and they say, ‘Hey, I’m also going there, you can fly with me,’ I’ll go,” he said.
This interview actually came out last summer, but the clip of Conan talking about private jets has started making the rounds again, racking up millions of views on X this week. And while some are shocked to learn that he loves going through TSA, plenty of others are loving Conan’s sentiment that it’s good for your soul to interact with other regular humans, particularly if you’re a very wealthy person.
As for the financial component and Conan’s suggestion that it’s smarter to fly commercial, people expressed disbelief at the recent normalization of chartering private planes, given how wildly expensive it is. (And how awful it is for the environment!!!)
Someone else also brought up some past comments from film producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney, who previously said that her father, Roy E. Disney (the son of Roy O. Disney and nephew of Walt Disney), “really lost his way in life” after he purchased a private 737.
Explaining that private planes “enable you to get around a certain reality” of life, Abigail told the Cut in 2019: “You don’t have to go through an airport terminal, you don’t have to interact, you don’t have to be patient, you don’t have to be uncomfortable. These are the things that remind us we’re human… It creates this notion that you’re a little bit better than [other people] are.”
I think that quote perfectly summarizes Conan’s argument, if I may say so myself! You can find his interview clip here.