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TUI Airways accused of ‘appalling sexism’
TUI Airways staff are continuing to hand out ‘sexist’ stickers to children on its flights, despite having been forced to apologise for a similar gaffe a year ago.
Crew have been giving ‘future captain’ stickers to boys and ‘future cabin crew’ stickers to girls on flights, according to passengers.
One holidaymaker on a flight from Newcastle to Antalya in Turkey said the company had displayed ‘appalling’ sexism.
At one point, crew even asked a boy and girl to swap stickers during a recent flight, saying they had ‘the wrong ones’.
Mark Munro told the Metro: "In this day and age that sexist attitude is absolutely appalling. I have young children and I’m bringing them up to know that they can be whatever they want to be. And then for a big company like TUI to issue these stickers – what kind of message does that send?"
Munro was travelling as part of a group of 20, including 11 children. He claimed all six boys in the group were given pilot stickers while the five girls were given a cabin crew as they disembarked.
When two children swapped, they were told by a member of the cabin crew they now had the wrong ones and had to change, he added.
A year ago, the airline apologised after the same stickers were handed out.TUI claimed it was a ‘simple mix-up’ when staff on board a flight from Bristol to Cyprus issued the stickers last August.
A TUI spokesperson said: ‘We work hard to be a diverse and inclusive business and would like to apologise to any customer upset at the sticker their child received on their recent flight to Turkey.
"Both future pilot and future cabin crew stickers are in our TUI blue colours and are not designed for boys or girls but for all children.
"We use the stickers as a way for our crew onboard to create special moments for our customers and the feedback continues to be positive. ‘We realise on this occasion some customers are disappointed by this and we will be working with our crew to ensure children have a choice of which sticker they receive."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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