Flydubai has been receiving immense criticism in international media for cancelling tickets of two Pakistani intersex activists because of their “x” gender on their passports.
As they prepared to board a trip to Kathmandu via the United Arab Emirates for their annual meeting there, Flydubai canceled Shahzadi Rai and Zehrish’s airline tickets. They are two transgender rights activists with the Gender Interactive Alliance. Shortly afterward, Shahzadi Rai used social media to draw attention to the incident that happened at Karachi Airport.
“Transgender people are accepted in the general population in other nations, however, Flydubai does not accept x-gender identification cards for travel, which is transphobic behavior on the part of the airline. Shahzadi asked while showing off her flight ticket, “If they don’t let us go on their planes, why even give us tickets?”
@FlyDubaiRBLX didn’t allow us to on board their plane due to my X gender identity. @flydubai shame on u pic.twitter.com/vipyrWP4Jg
— Shahzadi Rai (@ShahzadiRai) January 20, 2023
Another transgender with the Twitter account @sanakhusri added, “Shame on Flydubai for not letting khawaja siras fly on their flights.”
Shame on flydubai for not letting khawaja siras fly on their airline. Flop airline ki flop policies. Fucking transphobes!@flydubai@ShahzadiRai @surkhina @Bubbleskhanum
— sana (@sanakhusri) January 20, 2023
Another transgender activist, Hina Baloch, also known on Twitter as @surkhina, stated: “Today Shahzadi Rai was denied boarding on FlyDubai flight KHI-DXB-KTM. The Pakistan Foreign Office is urged to look into this immediately because it is hijraphobia.
Today @ShahzadiRai was barred from boarding @flydubai flight KHI-DXB-KTM, UAE still lives in the stone age & they don't recognize our Hijra Communities (Gender X on passport). This is Hijraphobia & we urge @ForeignOfficePk to look into this matter asap @UAE_karachi @uaeembassyisb
— Hina Baloch (@surkhina) January 20, 2023
Shahzadi Rai had tweeted a joyful picture of herself at the airport with the caption: “The goal is to die with memories, not dreams” about an hour before the event in which the transgender activists’ tickets were canceled.
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Sadly, this dream of flying only existed as an unpleasant memory. Before the story went to print, the involved airline, Flydubai, made no comments to the media regarding the incident.