Angry mom has accused Delta Air Line of discrimination after she was unable to purchase a gender “X” ticket for her adult child, who identifies as non-binary, using the reservation tools at the business

A US airline has been criticized by a parent after failing to buy her child a gender “X” plane ticket.

Dawn Henry, of Arizona, accused Delta Air Lines of “discrimination” for only offering men and women during the booking process – despite his 21-year-old wife identifying herself as non-binary.

The 52-year-old parent shared a series of tweets last Thursday (January 6) explaining how she wanted to surprise her adult child with a plane ticket as a gift but found herself barred from doing so, due to a missing gender options. .

His posts come three years after Delta and a number of other U.S. airlines announced they would update booking tools to include more non-binary passengers.

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Speaking to social media, the mother said, “@Delta discriminates against #non-binary individuals and does not allow them to steal despite having legal ID issued by states that allow X on birth certificates and coins of identity issued by the State. “

The parent went on to explain that the Transport Security Administration (TSA) requires boarding passes to match state-issued ID and although the TSA accepts “X” as a gender marker on the document. identity, some airlines still do not recognize it.

Orientation on TSA website, an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security, currently states, “When making a reservation, you are encouraged to use the same name, gender, and date of birth as shown on your ID issued by the government. ”

According to Henry, her child has an “X” marker on her birth certificate and Washington state driver’s license, but she was unable to put the same on her boarding pass for a flight.

She continued to share details of her conversation with Delta customer services, saying the rep she initially spoke to “was really trying to help” but was “unable to change the gender designation to an X”.

Henry posted: “I explained what the TSA told me about the #nonbinary designation but after over 30 minutes of waiting she told me ‘they’ said no matter what said ID, use what’s on the birth certificate I explained that the birth certificate also says X. I was put on hold again.

“After a while of waiting, a @Delta supervisor in Atlanta came online and told me their system only uses males / females and I can only use one.

“I explained again that my adult child is #nonbinary and #LGBTQ and their ID is X and the TSA is forcing them to match.

“Supervisor @Delta was brief with me and said, sorry, that’s the policy.”

The mother claims she told the supervisor the policy was “discriminatory” and finally hung up when she realized they weren’t going to help her.

Henry then took to Twitter to call the company, writing: “Gender identity is protected under civil rights law. How does @Delta’s disparate treatment of refusing to issue a ticket with the correct tag? gender #nonbinary legal required by TSA legal? ”

The tweets went viral, sparking a lot of outrage from other users.

After the backlash, a spokesperson for Delta Air Lines said NBC News that a non-binary option will be introduced in their reservation system this year, but that it is not an easy solution and requires the participation of several departments.

They added, “Delta Air Lines is a long-time proud supporter of the LGBTQ + community and we understand that being seen and recognized is part of a fair travel experience.

“While we quickly focused due to COVID in early 2020 to help customers navigate the rapidly changing environment and government regulations, we are once again on the right path to being able to offer a gender non-option. binary in our reservation systems in 2022. “

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