You get on a plane and the cabin crew / pilot says Good Morning Ladies & Gentlemen, would you be offended by that?
All this binary twaddle is a step too far, they even say they don’t want to make CHILDREN feel left out !!!!
For what its worth, I think 'Ladies and Gentlemen' is a bit outdated and it could easily be replaced with 'Good Morning ( Evening etc) Everyone!' That would cover all bases -sorted!
It'll not be long before the pilots will be told the nationality of all their passengers and spend an extra five minutes burning fuel on the tarmac, to greet them all in their own language.
Ladies and Gentlemen harps back to a time when only the Elite could travel by Air. for example 'Ryan Air would like to say a big hello to all our passengers and wish you a comfortable flight' is more current and up to date.
quite so, APG. If you look at 19th century census forms, under "occupation" people would sometimes write "gentleman". What this meant was "I don't work for a living [and neither does my lady wife]". So it's just airlilnes trying to flatter passengers by pretending they're all toffs.
SP, Logic dictates that if some people wish to be treated as the opposite sex, ladies and gentleman doesn't differentiate and is hence, respectful to all. No?
I used to fly BA first class for years . I did not find the service any better or worse than any other first-class airline. In fact Air Canada was more comfortable, and they've changed their standard introductory greeting to address customers as ‘everybody’ or ‘tout le monde’. I cant see what the fuss is really other than the usual feigned indignation.