Ryanair is facing a lawsuit in a German court because it doesn’t offer a gender-neutral booking option on its website for non-binary passengers, it has been reported.
The case stems back to October 2021 when a non-binary customer went on the Ryanair website to book a flight from Berlin to Gran Canaria only to then realize that they would have to choose one of three gender-specific options for their title: Herr (Mr), Frau (Mrs) or Fräulein (Miss).
It’s understood that Ryanair attempted to reach an out-of-court settlement with the disgruntled passenger, but after the two sides failed to resolve the matter, the case will now be heard in a Berlin state court.
In 2013, Germany became the first European country to allow its citizens to choose an ‘X’ gender in their passport, and in 2018, the country strengthened its protections for non-binary people with the passing of its Third Gender Law, which introduced the concept of a ‘diverse’ gender in addition to male and female.
Airlines have, however, been slower in introducing non-binary booking options despite changes from official aviation bodies being approved years ago.
In the same year that Germany introduced its Third Gender Law, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) approved the addition of non-binary booking options. IATA represents more than 350 airlines around the world, and the trade body is the defacto setter of many aviation standards.
The change was, however, restricted to countries that currently permit an ‘X’ gender marker in passports.
Although Ireland, where Ryanair is headquartered, does allow transgender people to change the gender in their passport, the country does not permit non-binary citizens to choose an ‘X’ gender marker.
In 2019, the now-defunct Air Italy became the first European carrier to make a non-binary gender option available on its website – a surprise move given the fact that the airline was majority owned by Qatar Airways where non-binary people are not recognized and homosequality remains illegal.
In the US, United Airlines became the first major carrier to offer gender-neutral booking options after it added both ‘X’ and ‘U’ gender identifiers, although some airlines warned that it would take years to offer accommodations for non-binary passengers because their legacy computers systems were proving difficult to update with the required code.
In 2023, however, Dutch flag carrier KLM said it would start rolling out gender-neutral booking options on its website, although this was initially restricted to bookings made in the Netherlands, as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.
Last month, the US State Department confirmed that it was no longer permitted to issue passports with an ‘X’ gender marker following a Executive Order signed by President Trump shortly after he took office for his second term.
The executive order, titled Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, was signed on January 20, 2025, requires the State Department to issue passports with either a male of female gender marker – this must match the biological gender of the passport holder at birth.
Ryanair did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
