TUI tells cabin crew to use gender-neutral language for passengers

No more ‘ladies and gentlemen’: Holiday firm TUI tells pilots and cabin crew to use gender-neutral term ‘passengers’ instead to avoid causing offence

• Holiday firm TUI will no longer use the expression ‘ladies and gentlemen’
• Pilots and staff have been told to use gender-neutral terms for passengers
• A free speech advocate accused the airline of having its ‘head in the clouds’
• ‘There’s no need to change this to placate the tiny minority who are offended’

Holiday firm TUI has told pilots and cabin crew to no longer address passengers as ‘ladies and gentlemen’ in favour of more gender-neutral terms.

Other major airlines, including Lufthansa, easyJet and Air Canada, have already adopted gender-neutral language.

Critics labelled fellow carrier British Airways as ‘woke’ after it made a similar move in in October last year.

The Sun reports that TUI holidaymakers will instead hear lines such as: ‘Good morning, passengers, this is your captain speaking.’

Andrew Allison, from pressure group The Freedom Association, said: ‘TUI have their head in the clouds. ‘Ladies and gentlemen’ has always been the traditional polite greeting.

 Holiday firm TUI has told pilots and cabin crew to no longer address passengers as ‘ladies and gentlemen’ in favour of more gender-neutral terms

‘There no need to change this in order to placate the tiny minority who feel offended.’

Toby Young, of the free Speech Union, added: ‘Most surveys put the percentage of the trans people in the population at around 0.5 per cent and I cannot imagine more than ten per cent of them object to the phrase, ‘ladies and gentlemen.’

TUI has stated it is committed to making sure its customers feel welcome.

A spokesman said: ‘We therefore encourage all our pilots and crew to ensure all public announcements on board our aircraft are inclusive.’

The news comes after frustrated holidaymakers have been waiting more than 40 hours to board a TUI flight from Cardiff Airport to the Greek island of Zakynthos. Passengers on flights to Ibiza and Dalaman have also reportedly been delayed by more than 24 hours.

Passengers say there have been angry scenes caused by a lack of information and claim that people, including children and the elderly, have been left with little or no food.

The flight to Zakynthos was due to leave Cardiff Airport at 2pm on Tuesday (May 24), but passengers were still waiting to fly out on Thursday morning. The current information is that it is due to fly at 10.10am on Thursday.

They did board a flight at the airport on Wednesday evening, but were then taken off the plane again after a health emergency meant it was too late to fly because the airport in Greece closes for the night.

Holidaymakers at Exeter Airport have also reported delays of nearly 20 hours.

A spokeswoman for TUI said: ‘As the UK’s biggest holiday company we will never cancel flights as we know how much our customers look forward to their holiday with us. We are doing everything we can to limit any flight delays, which can happen from time to time for various operational reasons.. On the rare occasion flight delays do take place we will do everything we can to support our customers.

‘We would like to apologise for the inconvenience to our customers travelling from Cardiff Airport today which have been delayed due to technical issues with an aircraft.

‘Customers have been offered overnight accommodation where required, and meals and refreshments. They also have the option to amend or cancel their holiday if they no longer wish to travel.

‘The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority, and we would like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding at this time.’

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