Air Canada flight staff is not going to greet passengers by calling them ‘ladies and gentlemen’ anymore because in recognition of ‘gender fluidity.
’
In a gender-neutral move, the Canadian airline has decided to ban gendered pronouns from its greetings and will instead welcome “everybody” or “tout le monde” during flight announcements.
“We will be amending our on-board announcements to modernize them and remove specific references to gender,” a spokesperson for the airline told CNN news partner CTV.
”We work hard to make sure all employees feel like valued members of the Air Canada family while ensuring our customers are comfortable and respected when they choose to travel with us.”
The company, which was named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2019 received mixed reviews on Twitter. Many praised the Air Canada for becoming more inclusive while others felt the change was alienating some passengers.
One wrote: ”My god, this gender correctness is really making me mad. What a bunch of clowns.”
”@AirCanada to swap ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ in their announcements with ‘Hello, everyone’ ensuring announcements are gender neutral. This is a big win for gender identity, diversity and inclusion,” praised another.
Another said: ”It’s totally fine to announce ‘Hello everyone’ and totally ridiculous to claim this announcement is to ensure gender neutrality. Inclusion should be embedded in behavior, not paraded around for PR points.”
”Whoever in the top brass at @AirCanada approved of removing “ladies and gentlemen” from the greeting…congrats for lowering the class of your experience. Formal titles that make people feel appreciated is not assuming gender. Soon we’ll just end up as numbers,” another wrote.
Earlier this year the Canadian government started to allow citizens to select non-binary ‘X,’ rather than male or female as their gender identity, on their passports.
”All Canadians should feel safe to be themselves, live according to their gender identity and express their gender as they choose,” immigration minister Ahmed Hussen said in a statement in 2017 about the change.
[rumble video_id=v56yt7 domain_id=u7nb2]