The German rail firm, Deutche Bahn, was left visibly miffed by a tweet from 16-year-old eco-activist (and TIME Magazine Person of the Year) Greta Thunberg, striking back on social media after Thunberg appeared to suggest she spent a rail journey home from a UN climate change summit in Madrid, Spain, sitting on the floor of an overcrowded train.
Thunberg tweeted a photo of herself, clearly tired and perhaps bored, staring out the window of a German train while sitting on the floor among her bags. The Tweet read, “Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home!”
Traveling on overcrowded trains through Germany. And I’m finally on my way home! pic.twitter.com/ssfLCPsR8o
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 14, 2019
Deutche Bahn, which operates the train, was clearly confused, especially when other social media users — particularly Germans — piled on to Thunberg’s tweet, suggesting that Deutche Bahn has a reputation for poor transportation management and that German trains are frequently overcrowded, late, and confusing, compared to many of their European counterparts.
Annoyed Thunberg was stirring up trouble, though, Deutche Bahn fired back.
At first, they flattered her, pointing out that train travel is an eco-friendly way to go, and that overcrowded trains meant the popularity of rail was skyrocketing in the new climate-conscious age.
“Dear Greta, thanks for supporting us railroaders in the fight against climate change. We were happy that you were traveling with us Saturday in ICE 74,” Deutche Bahn tweeted, referencing the train Thunberg took home to Sweden (and not the American immigration and customs agency). “And that’s with 100% sustainable electricity.”
But then things took a turn. See, Thunberg’s name appeared on a passenger registry, and her seat wasn’t on the floor.
“It would have been even nicer,” Deutsche Bahn added, “if you had also reported how friendly and competently you were taken care of by our team in your seat in first class.”
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
Yikes.
Thunberg eventually confirmed that yes, she did have a seat, and that her choice of accommodation — the floor — was entirely by choice, and an entirely temporary situation. She also backtracked, flattering Deutche Bahn by agreeing that overcrowded trains was a good sign.
“Our train from Basel was taken out of traffic. So we sat on the floor on 2 different trains. After Göttingen I got a seat,” she said in a statement released Sunday. “This is no problem of course and I never said it was.”
“Overcrowded trains is a great sign,” Thunberg added, “because it means the demand for train travel is high!”
The Guardian reported that Thunberg did not travel alone, and that she was given special treatment by train staff after they recognized who she was.
“Fellow passengers said she had been accompanied by her father, and that DB staff had given her little slabs of chocolate with the word ‘lieblingsgast’ (favourite guest), which are normally given to passengers in first class as well as second-class passengers in the event of long delays,” the UK paper wrote.
Although the dust-up was minor, it does show a strange development how the world now views Greta Thunberg after giving her a free pass to criticize lawmakers and global legislators for months. After taking a more political tack at the UN climate conference — claiming that eco-activism could only be effective if it was accompanied by the development of a global socialist state — some critics have started to suggest Thunberg may be repeating talking points provided to her by interested parties with political agendas, essentially exploiting the activist teen’s passion for the environment to push economic and social change.
Over the weekend, as the Daily Wire reported, Thunberg was forced to apologize and explain a speech where she suggested putting global leaders “up against a wall” if they did not do her bidding. She claimed, in a statement also released Sunday, that she didn’t know the phrase “up against a wall” could be construed as a threat of assassination, and that Swedish is her first language, making it difficult to know the intricacies of other dialects.