'That's discrimination': Arizona mom rips Delta's zero gender options for nonbinary child

[Floyd R. Turbo]

A mother is furious with Delta Air Lines after she was unable to buy a plane ticket for her nonbinary child as a result of the airline's lack of gender options on its digital system. 

Dawn Henry, a 52-year-old mother from Arizona, criticized Delta in a Twitter thread last week that eventually went viral, noting in her rant that the airline currently only features options for male and female. She said when she reached out to Delta regarding its gender policy after she was unable to purchase a surprise plane ticket for her adult child, a supervisor with the airline redirected her to the company policy that only specifies two gender options. 

“As stands, at least with @Delta, #nonbinary people are not allowed to fly," Henry tweeted. "The supervisor said that’s not true. But when a policy makes it impossible to buy a ticket that will comport with TSA guidelines, the result is the same. And that’s discrimination."

Henry's 21-year-old child identifies as nonbinary, meaning they have an "X" mark on their birth certificate and driver's license. According to GLAAD, a transgender person who identifies as nonbinary does not identify exclusively as either male or female. 


https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2022/01/11/delta-airlines-passenger-gender-options-criticized/9168185002/

[Cairycat]

1. Why on earth would gender make a difference?

Or in the sky, for that matter???

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. It makes a difference on your ticket because it needs to match your ID, and with U.S. passports

and more state IDs increasingly offering a nonbinary option, not offering a nonbinary option on the ticket is discriminatory in that it forces them into security violations.

[Amishman]

7. yup, this actually is a significant problem due to ID matching and security rules

My initial impression was somewhat dismissive until the implications were made clear

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Some airlines already offer the nonbinary option; here's hoping the publicity prompts other airlines

to get their acts together.

[YP_Yooper]

6. Read it was another measure by the TSA to prove identity

for those with similar or identical names.
Morbid as it is, it also helps if there's an accident and they try to identify the deceased. Biological sex is pretty easy to determine if all you have is a body.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. I just noticed that when buying a ticket recently. Glad to hear they'll be changing it soon.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Why Does The Airline Need To Know Gender?

I'm flown way over a thousand times & it never occurred to me before that this was on the manifest.
Why does the carrier need to know this?
Just remove the question entirely.

[pfitz59]

5. Not the airline.. TSA

the ticket must match the passport, by gender

[ProfessorGAC]

9. Still

There's a picture. Does it match?
As someone who traveled internationally a lot, I've known for many years that if one's appearance markedly change, one should update the passport.
Mine is up for renewal. I got older, have a goatee & much longer hair. I'm submitting a new pic.