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Canadian airlines waiting for clarity before changing policies on ticket gender options

Canada's largest airlines are awaiting details from the federal government before they follow their U.S. counterparts in allowing travellers to choose gender designations outside the traditional "male" and "female" check-in categories.

U.S. airlines say they are in the process of updating their booking tools to provide more options

The Canadian Press · Posted: Feb 18, 2019 3:56 PM ET | Last Updated: 15 minutes ago
 
Major U.S. airlines said last week they will change their ticketing process so that passengers can identify themselves along non-binary lines. (Olivier Jean/Reuters)

Canada's largest airlines are awaiting details from the federal government before they follow their U.S. counterparts in allowing travellers to choose gender designations outside the traditional "male" and "female" check-in categories.

Major U.S. airlines said last week they will change their ticketing process so that passengers can identify themselves along non-binary lines.

That change comes after a pair of major trade groups — the International Air Transport Association and Airlines for America — approved updated standards to allow member airlines to offer two new gender options: "unspecified" or "unidentified."

In 2017, Ottawa announced that travellers will at some point be able to specify their gender with an "X" on their passport, instead of "F" for female or "M" for male." The website for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says the change is coming "soon." Until then, passengers can request an "observation" on their passport that notes their sex should be marked as "X," the site states.

The National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents Air Canada, WestJet Airlines Ltd. and other companies, tells The Canadian Press that members are "awaiting developments and details" on the plan before altering their check-in systems.

U.S.-based airlines American, Delta and United confirmed Friday that they are in the process of updating their booking tools to add a similar option, implementing it in the next several weeks. They are making the check-in change despite resistance to non-binary passport options from the State Department.

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Movements like this remind me how safe commercial aviation has become.   Many here have had a hand in moving that needle a bit.  So there's that.

Things are so safe now that, in fact, some think that the definition of a reportable aviation incident has to do with seat selection, meal choice or whether their special interest is adequately represented on a ticket stub or record.  This is just the latest one.  We've recently seen furor over how a passenger is ID'ed at check in or the gate.

For every legitimate reason to remove a positive source of identification or categorization for weight reference, there is at least one legitimate reason why the existing system was created.  I can already picture the opportunities for ticket swapping and no-fly-list individuals slipping through.

But, at the end of the day, biology and physics simply do not care.  They are what they are. If a passenger will not reveal their current biological gender, then there will have to be an alternative means in place to assure that their identity and mass are known.  So if a passenger want's to submit to a weigh in before check in and provide other reliable proof that they are who they say they are, all without delaying other passengers (who still have all of their rights, last I checked, but this part is often lost in the debate), then I'm listening.

To be clear - my opinions regarding aviation safety and identification are not a value judgement on the gender  issue in society.  As bewildering as I sometimes find it, I am also keenly aware why it must be discussed.  A lot of harm, up to and including life ending events, has needlessly come because someone or a group 'did not fit in'.   Even a crusty old curmudgeon like me is sickened at the thought of all of those who have been excluded, suppressed, attacked, heck, even kidnapped and forced to live as if they were born in another culture.  Gender recognition is only part of what is going on.  We are in a time where these things can be discussed in relative safety, so the floodgates for that discussion have opened. Or maybe a better way to say it is the dam has finally burst.

If our current times are an over reaction to what has come before, then to me the issue is not the reaction, it is about what came before.

Vs

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8 minutes ago, Don Hudson said:

Vs, Kip, thanks for your posts.

If there's one Oscar-nominated movie this year that should be seen, it's Green Book.

+1 to that Don. I look forward to the day when our discourse can get beyond the "I'm right and you're an idiot" approach. 

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On 2/20/2019 at 9:37 AM, Kip Powick said:

If I may........so poignant and relevant

Listen to the words................(music at 0+22)

This is the song that should have got the Grammy ...IMO

Excellent song Kip.

For guitar players: Verse D Am G. Chorus add F#m and A#

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for those that would like the lyrics.

 

You're feeling nervous, aren't you, boy?
With your quiet voice and impeccable style
Don't ever let them steal your joy
And your gentle ways, to keep 'em from running wild
They can kick dirt in your face
Dress you down, and tell you that your place
Is in the middle, when they hate the way you shine
I see you tugging on your shirt
Trying to hide inside of it and hide how much it hurts

Let 'em laugh while they can
Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind
I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends
And the joke's on them

You get discouraged, don't you, girl?
It's your brother's world for a while longer
We gotta dance with the devil on a river
To beat the stream
Call it living the dream, call it kicking the ladder
They come to kick dirt in your face
To call you weak and then displace you
After carrying your baby on your back across the desert
I saw your eyes behind your hair
And you're looking tired, but you don't look scared

Let 'em laugh while they can
Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind
I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends
And the joke's on them

Let 'em laugh while they can
Let 'em spin, let 'em scatter in the wind
I have been to the movies, I've seen how it ends
And the joke's on them

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