Elon Musk Criticised Over Claims He Took 9-Minute Flight On His Jet

World's richest person Elon Musk is facing criticism online after a Twitter user claimed that he took a nine-minute flight from San Jose to San Francisco on his private jet. The super-short 35-mile flight took place on May 6, but Twitter user Hayden Clarkin posted a screenshot of the Tesla CEO's travels over the weekend and it prompted led to a barrage of comments from other users who expressed outrage over the carbon footprint left behind by the head of an electric car company.

The screenshot posted by Mr Clarkin were originally captured by the automated bot account @ElonJet, which is run by Jack Sweeney, a university student who tracks private jets owned by celebrities from websites such as ADB-B Exchange.

Mr Clarkin said in his tweet that the same distance on an express train would have been five stops or nearly an hour.

Elon Musk took a 9 minute flight to San Francisco from San Jose, which is 5 stops on Caltrain. I literally have no words. pic.twitter.com/dToHAkxBFF

— Hayden Clarkin (@the_transit_guy) August 21, 2022

"Elon Musk took a 9 minute flight to San Francisco from San Jose, which is 5 stops on Caltrain. I literally have no words," he wrote on his Twitter handle named "Transit Guy".

"Oh great point, SFO and San Jose would be a stop away from each other on the HSR project he's tried to derail," he said in a follow-up tweet, highlighting how Mr Musk has been a vocal critic of a proposed high-speed rail project connecting major cities in California.

Twitter users criticised Mr Musk for taking such a short flight.

"But women should have more children to conserve the human race, meanwhile Bad Boys Billionaires can continue making Earth uninhabitable," one user tweeted.

"Won't be surprised if ppl found out that 50% of CO2 emission is generated by just 1% of the world's population," said another.

Some users, meanwhile, pointed out that US President Joe Biden had recently travelled on Air Force One from Washington, DC, to Wilmington, Delaware.

Hay neckbeard; Biden took a 747 from DD to Delaware.

24 minutes… https://t.co/O8zFxSKTI6 pic.twitter.com/4ZKPMk6wis

— NevilleTheCat (@FearTheFloof) August 22, 2022

However, one journalist offered an alternative explanation, saying that the plane was likely just being 'repositioned'.