> In many cases these are high ranking government officials, and presumably if this flight didn’t exist, they might travel on private jets, which would be even worse; in order words, these people probably wouldn’t otherwise take a bus
Do MEPs really qualify as high ranking government officials?
Possibly, but not necessarily (based only on the flight number).
Fun fact, all flights (from commercial airlines) have a flight number, but those are not always sold. They might be charters or ferry/repositioning flights. (And while it might make sense to sell a repositioning flight - sometimes it's done on short notice or the airline doesn't want to assign cabin crew to those flights)
Do MEPs really qualify as high ranking government officials?