REMEMBER, THESE ARE THE SAME INTERNATIONAL ELITES WHO LECTURE YOU ABOUT YOUR “CARBON FOOTPRINT.” Private jet swarm strands semi-final fans.

Hundreds of fans bound for Durban for the Germany-Spain World Cup semi final missed the game because their flights were unable to land, after air traffic authorities closed the city’s airport because of congestion on the runway caused by private aircraft.

The situation was described as “absolute chaos” by the pilot of one British Airways flight which took off from Cape Town in mid-afternoon but was diverted to Johannesburg. . . . Wire services reported that among the VIPs heading for the semi-final by jet were Spain’s King Juan Carlos, South African President Jacob Zuma, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and socialite Paris Hilton. The BA pilot, who held his plane for around 45 minutes above Durban in the vain hope of getting a landing slot, told passengers he had no choice but to take the plane to Johannesburg because the plane’s fuel was starting to run low. He announced that the problem was caused by the airport allowing too many private jets to land at Durban, leaving the runways clogged up and unable to accept scheduled flights.

Remember this when you get the next DiCaprio lecture on global warming. As was said before: “How desperate could the planet’s plight be if the people who present themselves as most concerned about it consider flying first-class commercial an unacceptable sacrifice?”