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European Airline EasyJet Plans to Ditch Gender Binaries in 2020

“Good morning ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking” might sound quite a bit different in the coming year if you’re flying EasyJet. The British economy airline has announced a new commitment to bridging the binary divide.
“We want our crew to be welcoming to everyone on board, so [we] have provided some guidance to them on how best to do that in a way that is inclusive for everyone,” a spokesperson for the airline told CNN Travel. The announcement was provoked by an incident onboard that left one particular customer aggravated.
Dear @easyJet, are you in some kind of competition to see how many times you can reinforce gender binaries? “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls”, perfume strictly segrated again by “ladies and gentlemen”. Ditch sir/madam too. An organisation as huge as yours must do better.
— Andi with a 💜 dotting the i (@InductiveStep) August 29, 2019
EasyJet replied: “At easyJet we do not discriminate against any individual – passengers or staff members. We are a pan-European airline with the aim of connecting people of all nationalities across Europe so there is certainly no room in our organisation for discrimination of any kind. Hanna”
At easyJet we do not discriminate against any individual – passengers or staff members. We are a pan-European airline with the aim of connecting people of all nationalities across Europe so there is certainly no room in our organisation for discrimination of any kind. Hanna
— easyJet (@easyJet) August 29, 2019
Thank you @easyJet 🙂
— 🌈Daire🦄📸🤓 (@daire_shaw) December 24, 2019
Other responses have been less than kind regarding the change in policy.
Hello @easyJet I would like to complain about you NOT welcoming passengers with a ‘ladies and gentlemen’ anymore. I don’t feel included! I am a gentleman! Campaign now starts to boycott you #easyjet #aviation #london
— DaneInUk (@CarstenDane) December 24, 2019
Pardon me but that is PC-BS. You changed a tradition because of one complain. One! Now you will have thousands of complaints like mine but you won’t change your mind anyway. That’s hypocritical and very much ‘not including’ me. @Ryanair and @British_Airways here I come #easyjet
— DaneInUk (@CarstenDane) December 24, 2019
Hanna thinks gender is a nationality pic.twitter.com/F2Tz6DzWtL
— LADY ℝ𝕠𝕓𝕪𝕟 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕠𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒👩❤️💋👩 (@RTimoclea) August 30, 2019
Now that you’ve identified the issue, what do you suggest? You must have something in mind, why not share? ‘People’? ‘Yo’? ‘Youse guys’? Telling an organization to do better isn’t as helpful as providing a solution option. Rather than bitch about the darkness, light a candle.
— Amanda LaRosa (@arlarosa) December 24, 2019
Well… I found the dumbest thing on the internet today…
— Literally ANYONE ELSE 2020 (@IdahoAaron) December 24, 2019
Well… I found the dumbest thing on the internet today…
— Literally ANYONE ELSE 2020 (@IdahoAaron) December 24, 2019
The traditional gender greetings have not been banned, however, there appears to be a coordinated effort to become more mindful of all passengers and how they identify. Maybe a more pressing issue with this airline is how often it arrives and departs late – or not at all.
@easyJet always lateeeeee. One time I almost lost the flight because I was 1 minute late on the boarding time but we have to wait almost 40 minutes everytime. 😒 #ironic #easyjet #merrychristmas 🥺
— Virginia Chávez (@VirginChavez) December 24, 2019
Nine flights of easyJet were delayed yesterday, December 23. Claim your compensation with EUclaim! https://t.co/Op5820CJWN 😉✈️ #EUclaim #easyJet #flightdelay #compensation pic.twitter.com/RprhNpxiCz
— EUclaim UK (@EUclaimcom) December 24, 2019
Flighy delay #flyinghomeforchristmaseventually #glasgowairport #easyjet #coffeetime pic.twitter.com/w2oTsYmQr2
— Sam Walker (@SamofLeeds) December 23, 2019
Ok, make that another two and a half hours from now….#evenmorefedup #delayed #easyjet pic.twitter.com/4mmbdAl0fe
— Jo Allen (@joallen33) December 22, 2019
Image via Shutterstock.
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