Alaskan Airlines and Horizon Air have found themselves in the middle of a raging controversy regarding their 10 percent discounts to gay passengers. The offer isn’t exactly worded in those terms; rather, users are only allowed to access the discount through the company’s Gay Travels page on its website.
Vagabondish is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Read our disclosure.
Obviously this has gotten holiday travelers in a flutter, especially right wingers who see this as another symptom of “everything that’s wrong with society”. The Idaho Values Alliance is fuming that the airline that prides itself on its no discrimination policies is so blatantly discriminating against straight people.
You could argue that this is a sign of discrimination in reverse, the proverbial shoe on the other foot. (“You mean I can’t get a discount because I am straight? Preposterous!”) Except for the sneaky manner in which the airline has positioned the discount offer. It’s not featured in the promos/deals section where it should be, and until news of the “gay discount” first leaked, could only be accessed though the Gay Travels page on its website. When a controversy threatened to erupt, the airline quickly yanked the “Gay Travels” name from the page and replaced it with “New York For Sale,” but it can still be accessed only through a gay travel web page by someone looking specifically for homosexual travel options.
This isn’t the first time Alaska Airlines has targeted the hugely profitable gay travels sector. In the past, it has also advertised gay discounts on holidays to Puerto Vallarta.