Railway Company Corrects Greta Thunberg After Truth About Her First Class Seats Emerge
After climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted a photo of herself sitting on the floor of a German train and called the train “overcrowded,” the railway company issued a statement highlighting its commitment to fixing the issue.
But once more information emerged, the company called the teen out for fudging the truth.
The 16-year-old girl has led a world-wide “School Strike for Climate” and gone head-to-head with some of the world’s top leaders — including President Donald Trump — all in the name of climate change.
This summer, Thunberg left her home in Sweden to appear at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York and make other media appearances.
She had originally planned to attend the COP25 climate summit in Chile this month, but the event was suddenly relocated to Spain amid protests, according to Forbes.
Considering her highly-critical views of fossil fuel use, Thunberg chose to forego plane travel for sailing to get to the United States.
When she left America last month, the teen chose to travel in a similar fashion.
On Saturday, Thunberg tweeted a photo of herself sitting on the ground on a German train surrounded by a stack of suitcases.
“Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home!” she wrote.
Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home! pic.twitter.com/ssfLCPsR8o
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 14, 2019
Deutsche Bahn, the company that operates the train Thunberg was photographed on, quickly responded via Twitter and said it will “continue to work hard on more trains, connections and seats.”
Several hours later, however, the company learned that Thunberg had in fact been seated in first class — for at least a portion of her trip.
Rather than allow the world to believe that Time’s Person of the Year was forced to slum around on the floor of its trains, Deutsche Bahn decided to set the record straight.
First, it thanked Thunberg for supporting the company “in the fight against climate change” and mentioned the train’s use of “100 percent green electricity.”
“It would have been even nicer if you had also reported how friendly and competent you were looked after by our team at your seat in first class,” it added.
Noch schöner wäre es gewesen, wenn Du zusätzlich auch berichtet hättest, wie freundlich und kompetent Du von unserem Team an Deinem Sitzplatz in der Ersten Klasse betreut worden bist. #Greta 2/2
— Deutsche Bahn AG (@DB_Presse) December 15, 2019
The teen later responded and confirmed she did have a seat for part of her trip.
“Our train from Basel was taken out of traffic,” she tweeted. “So we sat on the floor on 2 different trains. After Göttingen I got a seat.”
She then added that she didn’t mean any ill will toward the railroad company and instead saw it as a “great sign.”
“This is no problem of course and I never said it was,” she continued. “Overcrowded trains is a great sign because it means the demand for train travel is high!”
She then chastised media for spinning “conspiracy theories” and retweeted a journalist who said she sat on the floor with Thunberg on the two trains.
“Sometimes it’s lucky that you are traveling with journalists who can confirm the story,” she wrote.
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