Delta says non-binary customer can only fly as “male or female” despite valid ID & documents

Update: Delta Air Lines told LGBTQ Nation in a statement that they are “a proud, long-time supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and we understand that being seen and acknowledged is part of having an equitable travel experience.” They have stated that they “have begun the process of updating our booking systems” to offer a non-binary gender option, which they expect “to be available to customers during the fourth quarter of 2022.” Our story has been revised to reflect Delta’s statement.

The mother to a non-binary customer attempting to fly with Delta Air Lines alleges the airline is discriminating against them, after she was unable to buy a plane ticket for them unless they inaccurately marked their gender as “male” or “female” while purchasing the ticket, despite the person having a valid identification with an “X” marker and a birth certificate also with an “X” gender marker.

“@Delta is discriminating against #nonbinary individuals and not allowing them to fly despite legal ID issued by states that allow X on birth certificates and state-issued IDs,” the mother alleged in a now-viral thread of tweets posted on January 6.

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“TSA requires that the boarding pass reservation match your state issued ID. TSA accepts X as a gender marker on state IDs. The problem isn’t with TSA. The problem is airlines, like @Delta and @AlaskaAir,” the mother, Aurora Dawn, wrote. “I first discovered this problem when trying to make an online reservation to buy a ticket as a Christmas present for my #nonbinary adult child. The only gender options in @Delta and @AlaskaAir online reservation systems is male or female.”

Following TSA directions to call the airlines directly, she called Delta to make the reservation, but a representative told her that “she was unable to change the gender designation to X,” and that the ticket must have male or female gender designations. After explaining that her child is non-binary and their birth certificate has an “X” gender marker as does their identification, the representative put her on hold.

Then, “a @Delta supervisor in Atlanta came on the line and told me that their system only uses male/female and I can only use one of those. I explained again that my adult child is #nonbinary and #LGBTQ and their ID is X and TSA requires them to match,” she wrote.

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“The @Delta supervisor got short with me and said, sorry, that’s the policy,” with the supervisor adding that she believes “that is not discriminatory, it’s just their policy.” Dawn responds, “Then the policy is discriminatory.” She hung up, unable to get the plane ticket from Delta, and unable to find another airline offering flights on the same route for a similar price that recognizes non-binary identification.

“And even if I could find an airline that would issue a ticket with the correct X gender, @Delta was the least expensive,” she pointed out. “Why should a #nonbinary #LGBTQ person have to pay MORE in order to be allowed to fly?… that’s discrimination.”

@Delta is discriminating against #nonbinary individuals and not allowing them to fly despite legal ID issued by states that allow X on birth certificates and state-issued IDs. This thread is the ongoing saga of me trying to purchase a ticket for my non-binary adult child. 1/x

— ⚖️Aurora Dawn⚖️