Easyjet under fire after introducing pronounce change for all staff

Airline staff can choose he/him", "she/her" or "they/them".

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Airline EasyJet will let plane crew include pronouns on name badges – with over 25 choices available. Airline staff can choose he/him", "she/her" or "they/them".

Other titles available include ze/zir/zirs, xe/xem/xyrs and ze/hir/hirs. The pronouns will also be translated into other languages, like French or Italian.

The airline said: "We want to ensure we provide an inclusive environment for everyone." Sir John Hayes, chair of the Tories ’ Common Sense Group, said: "This is another example of out-of-touch, profit-greedy plutocrats expecting their hard-working staff to endure this kind of pointless posturing — and customers to take seriously an organisation that can't grasp the English language."

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In 2019, easyJet advised staff against greeting passengers as "ladies and gentlemen". Easyjet reacted after trans university lecturer Dr Andi Fugard hit out on Twitter, posting: "Dear @easyjet, are you in some kind of competition to see how many times you can reinforce gender binaries?

"’Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls’, perfume strictly segregated again by ‘ladies and gentlemen’. Ditch sir/madam too. An organisation as huge as yours must do better." Dr Fugard, whose Twitter bio reads "disaster queer spinster" and "them fatale", is employed by Birkbeck University in London.

Easyjet responded, saying it would take the comments "on board and pass to the relevant teams". An Easyjet spokesman said: "We want our crew to be welcoming to everyone onboard and so have provided some guidance to them of how to best do that in a way that is inclusive for everyone."