METRONEWS
© New Zealand Broadcasting School 2024

Are airlines flying low on gender diversity?

Timithi Aplin-Barrett
Air NZ Plane
Air New Zealand   Wikimedia Commons

Many domestic airlines still don't offer gender neutral booking options.

With the expanding world of gender diversity, pressure is mounting for New Zealand airlines to offer non-binary options to their digital booking platforms.

Currently, while neither Air New Zealand or Jetstar require you to specify your gender when making a domestic booking, they do require a title such as "Mr", "Mrs", "Doctor" or "Reverend", among others. 

Currently, there are no non-binary or gender diverse options for civilians. 

Air New Zealand still stands by a statement they released in February.

The statement says they are currently exploring how they can introduce non-binary gender options across their various digital environments.

Jetstar told METRONEWS they are looking into options. 

For some, changes can't come soon enough. 

Many people who feel they belong to a different gender, find it difficult and oppressive when they have to choose an option that they do not identify as. 

"I used "Mr" as my title when flying but female is still on my passport. I caused the machines to error and I had to get a human to override everything just so I could get checked in. Then I had to do additional screening," an anonymous source says.

But, for the time being, things look set to stay the same.