Japan Airlines Switch To Gender Neutral Greeting; No Longer Greet ‘Ladies & Gentlemen’

by Sanjana Shenoy
Japan Airlines Switch To Gender Neutral Greeting; No Longer Greet ‘Ladies & Gentlemen’

Japan Airlines will replace its “ladies and gentlemen” in-flight and airport announcements with gender-neutral greetings from October 1. They will be ditching the usual greeting, “Ladies and Gentlemen”, and embracing the gender-neutral phrase, such as “Welcome Everyone and Attention All Passengers”, during in-flight and airport announcements. Adapting gender-neutral greetings will ensure a more inclusive environment. Meanwhile, Australia started scenic 7-hour flights to nowhere, which got sold out in 10 minutes. Read on to know more.

Japan Airlines Will Adapt Gender Neutral Greetings During In-Flight & Airport Announcements

Japan Airlines shall adopt gender-neutral phrases for greeting in their flights, thereby making everybody feel inclusive. It is now among the few airlines around the world to embrace such a policy. Reportedly, this will apply to only English announcements as of now. This is because, in Japanese, the expression usually used in such announcements is already gender-neutral.

japan airlines
Picture Credits: bbc.com

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This development, however, did not create a stir in Japan. Referring to this, Professor Kazuya Kawaguchi, a sociologist at Hiroshima Shudo University, stated to media houses that it is a small deal for people here as most of them really don’t care about this change in the announcement, as English is mostly neither understood nor noticed by most of the Japanese-speaking passengers. Ouch!

japan airlines
Picture Credits: Bloomberg

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Japan Airlines Ran LGBT Ally Charter Flight Last Year For Same-Sex Partners & Their Families

JAL Publicist Yutaro Iwasaki stated that they have been promoting diversity in the community since 2014. And as such this development is a part of their actions taken to treat everyone equally, regardless of their gender. Reportedly, this is not the first time that the airlines have been a talking point in terms of ‘inclusivity’. In March 2020, the Tokyo-based airline announced that it would be giving its female flight attendants the option to wear trousers instead of skirts so that they feel more comfortable while on board. Also, last year, the airline ran a trial LGBT Ally Charter flight for same-sex partners and their families, when rules were tweaked to extend spouse and family allowances to same-sex partners. Interestingly, Taiwan launched a fake flight to nowhere, watch this video to know more. 

First Published: October 01, 2020 5:56 PM