American Airlines will now allow travelers to choose non-binary gender options during the booking process.
Customers can now designate “U” or “X” for their gender instead of male or female, American Airlines confirmed in a statement to The Hill.
“We recently completed a system update to offer non-binary gender selections. Taking care of our customers and team members is what we do, and we are glad to be able to better accommodate the gender preferences of our travelers and team members,” the airline said in the statement.
The change comes as some American states and foreign countries are now providing ID’s with a gender of U or X.
Travelers currently have to call the airline to choose the non-binary options, but the new choices will be available on their website soon, USA Today reported. Travelers can also call to update existing reservations with the new gender options.
American Airlines is not the first major U.S. airline to make the change. In March, United Airlines became the first American airline to give travelers the choice of non-binary gender options.
Beck Bailey, acting director of the Workplace Equality Program at the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement at the time that United Airline’s move was taking an “important step forward for non-binary inclusion.”
Two airline trade groups, Airlines for America and the International Air Transport Association have signed off on international best-practices creating an “unspecified” or “undisclosed” gender option for travelers using non-binary IDs, USA Today reported. The top five biggest U.S. airlines, including American, Delta, United, Southwest and Alaska airlines, all told the outlet they plan to apply the suggestion.