The Top Five Airlines Are Taking Off With Gender Nonbinary Booking Options Just In Time For Summer Travel
by Heather Cassell
The top five American airlines are diversifying its gender options when booking flights.
Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United airlines confirmed it planned on updating its booking process to accommodate non-binary individuals air travel needs February 15.
The non-binary option will be in addition to binary gender options travelers are familiar with – male and female.
The United States two major airline trade organizations – Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association – adopted more inclusive international standards for fliers starting June 1, just in time for summer travel.
The standard isn’t mandatory, but a guideline for airlines. Other airlines may follow suit.
The two organizations will allow member airlines to offer two additional gender options: unidentified or unspecified.
United travelers will soon see U for undisclosed and X for unspecified in addition to M for male and F for female on the airline’s online booking engine and on its app, United spokeswoman Andrea Hiller told The Chicago Sun-Times.
Travelers will also have the option to choose Mx as a title at United.
The change is to be more inclusive of the number of diverse travelers while still complying to domestic and international traveler identification laws, the airlines said.
United wants “all of our customers feel comfortable and welcome no matter how they self-identify,” Hiller told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Transgender advocates praised the change.
“It’s a significant step forward for nonbinary individuals, so they are not faced with a mismatch between their ticketing information and their legal identification,” Beck Bailey of the Human Rights Campaign told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Oregon became the first state to legally provide the nonbinary gender option on government issued driver’s license and identification cards in 2017. Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New York, and Washington, D.C. followed suit offering nonbinary, “gender X,” on state-issued IDs.
Experts anticipate the change will streamline security procedures at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints that have been a stress point for many transgender and gender nonconforming travelers because their identification might not match how they present themselves.
Many stories have proliferated on social media and the internet in recent years about transgender travelers having issues at the airport getting through security.
The United States State Department and TSA have guidelines and policies in place for gender variant travelers.
United anticipated to have all four options available to travelers booking flights within the coming weeks, reported Fortune Magazine.
American and Delta are also currently in the process of updating its booking systems to accommodate the gender options.
“We certainly have a very diverse customer base. This will be well-received, and we’re happy to do it,” American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Southwest doesn’t have a time table when travelers can expect to see the option.
Book your next vacation with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
To contract an original article, purchase reprints or become a media partner, contact .
