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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Couldn’t believe this airline website!

5 replies

Dunlurking · 28/06/2011 17:19

It's Sri Lankan airlines, if you are interested!

I?m a complete newbie to this section but enjoy lurking. Just felt I had to post my astonishment at this. I booked flights yesterday, starting with me as? first? person and then listing my 13 year old son and my 10 year old daughter. Because my son needed an adult ticket, it didn?t ask his age and it leapfrogged him, as an ?adult? male, to the first listed person. I have since had 2 e-mails and a phone call about the booking because of various problems with it and they all were addressed to Mr X or asked for Mr X! I find this astounding!

Do other airlines do this? First time I have booked an adult ticket for ds.

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LRDTheFeministNutcase · 28/06/2011 17:34

Ouch!

I've not had that, but I have had Lufhansa insist that if I am female, I must be 'Mrs' on my ticket ... no matter that my passport isn't 'Mrs' and I have no ID at all with 'Mrs' on it. They didn't give a toss, just said it was policy for all women to have that title, which I guess you could spin in a non-sexist way but which actually pissed me off no end.

Have you told them they've made an error? I'd love to hear their response.

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Dunlurking · 28/06/2011 17:44

Can't actually face telling them yet LRDTheFeministNutcase Blush I had so much trouble just getting the booking done.

Can't say I was bothered about the title offered - I had enough trouble paying with my credit card which is in my maiden name (Dr Y) when I was booking for my passport name X (didn't offer me Dr) Angry

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LRDTheFeministNutcase · 28/06/2011 17:47

Well, I guess at least your son must be flattered ...

I mainly minded about the title because I was worried if the two didn't match I'd have a problem at the airport - I didn't, but given how fussy they can be I think it's a legit. concern.

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TeiTetua · 28/06/2011 18:39

Re Lufthansa, I wonder if it's a direct translation of "Frau" which used to be applied to married women but now is used for all adult women. So if they use "Frau" in German they may think it's right to use "Mrs" in English. But I'd have thought there are enough people in Germany familiar with English-speaking cultures to avoid this kind of mistake.

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NotADudeExactly · 29/06/2011 00:07

I agree re. Lufthansa. There never has been anything like "Ms" in German, so "Mrs" ("Frau") has essentially become the accepted form.

In fact, it is considered really rude to call a woman "Miss" ("Fraeulein") nowadays. Which is in fact a subject for a whole new thread. It basically stems from the fact that "Fraeulein" is a diminuitive and that it therefore implies that a woman without a husband is not quite as much of an adult woman as a married one.

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