Please let me preface this post by saying I’m a gay male and this isn’t a post about the airlines doing anything wrong. Just curious others’ opinion. Here goes..

For as long as I can remember the airline industry (at least in the US) has been a large employer of gay citizens across all roles. In the past I’ve seen airlines like DL and AS sponsor gay pride parades at different in Seattle. However, there now seems to be a trend starting among airlines where they’re now painting aircraft in special rainbow liveries.

The first one I noticed was Qantas with the rainbow ‘roo livery on an A330:

https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/ ... roo/504709

Now UA has painted a 777 with a rainbow flag:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... ER/7154671

Given how long the LGBTQ community has sought employment with airlines I guess my question is why now all of a sudden are airlines moving past things like sponsoring local pride parades that last a weekend to painting airplanes with gay pride rainbow paint schemes that fly the message all around the world, including to destinations where homosexuality is heavily looked down on or illegal? (For example I’ve noticed QF’s rainbow ‘roo A330 has flown to Jakarta, Indonesia many times. Not exactly the most gay friendly city or country in the world.)

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

It is politically/financially expedient for western corporations to do these hollow displays of support for various groups. The minute it negatively affects their financials, you’ll see ops out there peeling those decals off.

Every major US Airline now has a DEI department and 10 years ago nobody really knew what that meant.

You forgot Alaska Airlines and their Pride livery, which is terrible:

Seriously, with all their outstanding special liveries, this is... well... it's nice they tried.

It's a marketing thing, and it's a magnificent development. It means that, ultimately, it's better to be seen as supportive than sit this out. Orlandocfi is correct; if it becomes a marketing liability, the trend will end quickly. That does nothing to diminish the importance of what it means as a reflection of what our society writ large wants to see from our corporations. Marketing or no, it's an excellent sign.

NameOmitted wrote:

You forgot Alaska Airlines and their Pride livery, which is terrible:

Seriously, with all their outstanding special liveries, this is... well... it's nice they tried.

It's a marketing thing, and it's a magnificent development. It means that, ultimately, it's better to be seen as supportive than sit this out. Orlandocfi is correct; if it becomes a marketing liability, the trend will end quickly. That does nothing to diminish the importance of what it means as a reflection of what our society writ large wants to see from our corporations. Marketing or no, it's an excellent sign.

I had not seen that one. I’m dying at your comment “well... it's nice they tried.”

JohanTally wrote:

Every major US Airline now has a DEI department and 10 years ago nobody really knew what that meant.

It goes beyond airlines .. many?/most? major US corporations have a DEI department now!

All valid points and truthfully I’d forgotten about DEI departments that are infiltrating most large organizations and something I hadn’t thought of. Appreciate the insightful replies.

Magnum9 wrote:

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

It is. But still would rather see it than not.

Hopefully someday it'll become a non-issue, because no one on either side will care one way or another.

But since we aren't there yet, recognition (be it tokenism or not) is a good thing.

LAX772LR wrote:

Magnum9 wrote:

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

It is. But still would rather see it than not.

Hopefully someday it'll become a non-issue, because no one on either side will care one way or another.

But since we aren't there yet, recognition (be it tokenism or not) is a good thing.

I hear you and also hope one day no one on either side will care. Just wonder why it took till now.

Magnum9 wrote:

Please let me preface this post by saying I’m a gay male and this isn’t a post about the airlines doing anything wrong. Just curious others’ opinion. Here goes..

For as long as I can remember the airline industry (at least in the US) has been a large employer of gay citizens across all roles. In the past I’ve seen airlines like DL and AS sponsor gay pride parades at different in Seattle. However, there now seems to be a trend starting among airlines where they’re now painting aircraft in special rainbow liveries.

The first one I noticed was Qantas with the rainbow ‘roo livery on an A330:

https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/ ... roo/504709

Now UA has painted a 777 with a rainbow flag:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... ER/7154671

Given how long the LGBTQ community has sought employment with airlines I guess my question is why now all of a sudden are airlines moving past things like sponsoring local pride parades that last a weekend to painting airplanes with gay pride rainbow paint schemes that fly the message all around the world, including to destinations where homosexuality is heavily looked down on or illegal? (For example I’ve noticed QF’s rainbow ‘roo A330 has flown to Jakarta, Indonesia many times. Not exactly the most gay friendly city or country in the world.)

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

QF started doing a Pride livery a few years ago to tie in with the Sydney Mardi Gras, and UA's Koala Pride livery was also for MG and World Pride in Sydney this year.

BNEFlyer wrote:

Magnum9 wrote:

Please let me preface this post by saying I’m a gay male and this isn’t a post about the airlines doing anything wrong. Just curious others’ opinion. Here goes..

For as long as I can remember the airline industry (at least in the US) has been a large employer of gay citizens across all roles. In the past I’ve seen airlines like DL and AS sponsor gay pride parades at different in Seattle. However, there now seems to be a trend starting among airlines where they’re now painting aircraft in special rainbow liveries.

The first one I noticed was Qantas with the rainbow ‘roo livery on an A330:

https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/ ... roo/504709

Now UA has painted a 777 with a rainbow flag:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... ER/7154671

Given how long the LGBTQ community has sought employment with airlines I guess my question is why now all of a sudden are airlines moving past things like sponsoring local pride parades that last a weekend to painting airplanes with gay pride rainbow paint schemes that fly the message all around the world, including to destinations where homosexuality is heavily looked down on or illegal? (For example I’ve noticed QF’s rainbow ‘roo A330 has flown to Jakarta, Indonesia many times. Not exactly the most gay friendly city or country in the world.)

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

QF started doing a Pride livery a few years ago to tie in with the Sydney Mardi Gras, and UA's Koala Pride livery was also for MG and World Pride in Sydney this year.

Interesting. Australia is leading the way and now influencing American competitors to get on board.

I’ve always wanted to visit Sydney during Mardi Gras.

Magnum9 wrote:

Please let me preface this post by saying I’m a gay male and this isn’t a post about the airlines doing anything wrong. Just curious others’ opinion. Here goes..

For as long as I can remember the airline industry (at least in the US) has been a large employer of gay citizens across all roles. In the past I’ve seen airlines like DL and AS sponsor gay pride parades at different in Seattle. However, there now seems to be a trend starting among airlines where they’re now painting aircraft in special rainbow liveries.

The first one I noticed was Qantas with the rainbow ‘roo livery on an A330:

https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/ ... roo/504709

Now UA has painted a 777 with a rainbow flag:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... ER/7154671

Given how long the LGBTQ community has sought employment with airlines I guess my question is why now all of a sudden are airlines moving past things like sponsoring local pride parades that last a weekend to painting airplanes with gay pride rainbow paint schemes that fly the message all around the world, including to destinations where homosexuality is heavily looked down on or illegal? (For example I’ve noticed QF’s rainbow ‘roo A330 has flown to Jakarta, Indonesia many times. Not exactly the most gay friendly city or country in the world.)

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

Hi fellow gay man here that spends too much time on this forum. from what I can find theres 1 main reason, with subpoints, for these pride liveries

1. Employees and customers. There was talk similar to this last week on the American airline's threads over the special old liveries like reno air and Allegheny airways and these pride liveries, they fit the same purpose, for the staff and customers. It's the reason for Alaska's (now retired) pride plane N854VA. source: https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/pride-plane/


1.4. The pride event in Sydney! It's why united did it. source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 53181.html


1.8. to get at a not supportive countries like Qatar during the world cup, which is what Virgin Atlantic did. source: https://onemileatatime.com/news/virgin- ... world-cup/

NameOmitted wrote:

You forgot Alaska Airlines and their Pride livery, which is terrible:

Seriously, with all their outstanding special liveries, this is... well... it's nice they tried.

It's a marketing thing, and it's a magnificent development. It means that, ultimately, it's better to be seen as supportive than sit this out. Orlandocfi is correct; if it becomes a marketing liability, the trend will end quickly. That does nothing to diminish the importance of what it means as a reflection of what our society writ large wants to see from our corporations. Marketing or no, it's an excellent sign.

I somewhat like the livery (and even flew on it), but it isn't the best. VH-QPJ over at Qantas was the best

I’m honestly happy to see it because we live in a time where LGBTQ people are still targeted.

jaybird wrote:

JohanTally wrote:

Every major US Airline now has a DEI department and 10 years ago nobody really knew what that meant.

It goes beyond airlines .. many?/most? major US corporations have a DEI department now!

I'm aware I was just highlighting airlines since that's what the OP was referring to.

Hoping UA fly that aircraft to DXB

I imagine the livery would create limitations which routes the plane could serve. Qantas wouldn't want to fly the A330 with rainbow livery to the countries where homosexuality is still illegal, as it would be seen as a provocation to the local authorities.

ABpositive wrote:

I imagine the livery would create limitations which routes the plane could serve. Qantas wouldn't want to fly the A330 with rainbow livery to the countries where homosexuality is still illegal, as it would be seen as a provocation to the local authorities.

Not necessarily

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... hosts.html

myki wrote:

Hoping UA fly that aircraft to DXB

It would be very interesting (and not surprising) to see N2749U operate the inaugural EWR-DXB next week.

Missing this one here...

https://www.airliners.net/photo/DHL-Eur ... AUodLsY%3D

Part of the answer was in the opening post. The airline industry has long had quite a high proportion of gay employees and an organisations values largely come from the values of the employees. So in the airline industry’s case it’s more than jumping on a bandwagon or doing something so called ‘woke’ but the fact that there’s plenty of gay employees and then the coworkers/friends of those employees reflecting their own values into their work.

a320fan wrote:

Part of the answer was in the opening post. The airline industry has long had quite a high proportion of gay employees and an organisations values largely come from the values of the employees. So in the airline industry’s case it’s more than jumping on a bandwagon or doing something so called ‘woke’ but the fact that there’s plenty of gay employees and then the coworkers/friends of those employees reflecting their own values into their work.

Yeah, this is a fair shout.

Case in point I remember UA marketing over instagram and other social media that they flew a longhaul flight with a fully LGBTQ+ cabin crew.

As a loyal UA flyer, honestly I just found that cool. Do I need to be told on every flight I take "your crew today is X% LGBTQ+"?
No, I don't

But happy to see my airline of choice, and all airlines that choose to, celebrate a community that is still too marginalized.

I hate the whole thing. I am gay, proud to be so, just wanna fit it. The incessant need for people to celebrate visibility and wave flags just annoys a lot of us. It's infantalising...

Avianca IMO has the gayest plane ever. Which is really cool and I love it. N724AV.

There's a heap to it from all sorts of angles. Arguments for visibility, normalisation, celebration, etc. Arguments for pink-washing, pissing people off, etc. There's no nice and simple answer when it comes to stuff like this.

Overall I think it is more useful than harmful and happy to see it continue.

The UK had so many rail pride liveries that someone made a site to track them all. http://theprogresstrain.co.uk/

This is also an ESG matters

Cardude2 wrote:

1.4. The pride event in Sydney! It's why united did it. source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 53181.html

I thought this was a really cute little gesture and a nice way to throw a nod to World Pride. I would highly recommend you don't go take a look at the comments on United's Twitter post about it though... it will really dampen your outlook on humanity...

skipness1E wrote:

I hate the whole thing. I am gay, proud to be so, just wanna fit it. The incessant need for people to celebrate visibility and wave flags just annoys a lot of us. It's infantalising...

I've heard this from others as well but for some reason it seems like society feels there is a need to paint with a broad brush while in fact everyone is different.

Lufthansa has their Lovehansa jet and Cape Air has a Rainbow livery on one of their Cessna 402's

ABpositive wrote:

I imagine the livery would create limitations which routes the plane could serve. Qantas wouldn't want to fly the A330 with rainbow livery to the countries where homosexuality is still illegal, as it would be seen as a provocation to the local authorities.

The first flight of QPJ in Rainbow Roo livery was to Singapore if I recall correctly.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

https://www.airliners.net/photo/TransBr ... X2/QeMvS0b

Sorry, but I think everyone has it wrong. They are all just copying TransBrasil!

All of these are just awwww you tried! Honestly I love the pics of Condor in new livery and Braniff when the airplanes are lined up! Obviously it’s not for pride reasons, but would be cool if they used that in their ads for pride events. With Condor it will only get better when more airplanes are repainted.

skipness1E wrote:

I hate the whole thing. I am gay, proud to be so, just wanna fit it. The incessant need for people to celebrate visibility and wave flags just annoys a lot of us. It's infantalising...

Maybe if your from a privileged part of the world you may have this opinion but in my country I'd take as much awareness about lgbt as possible.

JohanTally wrote:

Every major US Airline now has a DEI department and 10 years ago nobody really knew what that meant.

Wasted money driving up.costs, will.be the first to go when the quarterly reports show.losses. just hire.competent peolple,.i.care less.who.they live and sleep with.

ABpositive wrote:

I imagine the livery would create limitations which routes the plane could serve. Qantas wouldn't want to fly the A330 with rainbow livery to the countries where homosexuality is still illegal, as it would be seen as a provocation to the local authorities.

Quite coincidentally, right now (March 21) QF41 SYD-CGK is being operated by VH-EBL, the 2023 "Pride is in the air" livery. This livery has rainbow QANTAS titles, but the roo isn't holding a flag because the new roo has no arms.

WaywardMemphian wrote:

JohanTally wrote:

Every major US Airline now has a DEI department and 10 years ago nobody really knew what that meant.

Wasted money driving up.costs, will.be the first to go when the quarterly reports show.losses. just hire.competent peolple,.i.care less.who.they live and sleep with.

In the past two decades in aviation I've never needed coaching on how to treat my fellow coworkers. But just in the last two years all of a sudden I find myself spending hours being trained on identifying microaggressions. They used to make sure we were up to date on FAA mandated items now I spend more time on DEI courses than actual work safety guidelines.

myki wrote:

Hoping UA fly that aircraft to DXB

That airplane will not be going anywhere near the Arab world for obvious reasons.

hongkongflyer wrote:

This is also an ESG matters

How so?

[twoid][/twoid]

MDC862 wrote:

myki wrote:

Hoping UA fly that aircraft to DXB

That airplane will not be going anywhere near the Arab world for obvious reasons.

Ahhhh and see there is the rub. If that’s what the company values and is proud of why not fly it there?
Just like when US embassies flew the pride flag but not in Arab countries (unless I missed it) it was however flown near the Vatican. So is it a value or is it standard corporate hey hey look at us?

What was once a real statement of who you were/are is just becoming a giant marketing thing. Rainbow this rainbow that and so on. Corporate has taken over.

MDC862 wrote:

myki wrote:

Hoping UA fly that aircraft to DXB

That airplane will not be going anywhere near the Arab world for obvious reasons.

UA might not do it but others have.

https://onemileatatime.com/news/virgin- ... world-cup/

Unfortunately pride liveries are mostly for corporate appearances at this point rather than embracing the community they represent. The LGBT+ community is well represented within the airline industry but even then - we still have a ways to go.

WaywardMemphian wrote:

JohanTally wrote:

Every major US Airline now has a DEI department and 10 years ago nobody really knew what that meant.

Wasted money driving up.costs, will.be the first to go when the quarterly reports show.losses. just hire.competent peolple,.i.care less.who.they live and sleep with.

DEI departments are a benefit for employee inclusion when they work across all areas but if they are too focused on one area they can backfire and alienate a large group of employees.

Why do some people get their panties tied in a knot over one plane getting a small rainbow paint job on part of the frame? Special liveries are made all the time. It doesn't have anything to do with singling out gay people or highlighting differences?? It's just a small harmless addition that some people may appreciate.

It's not like United Airlines is changing its name to United Gaylines?

myki wrote:

Hoping UA fly that aircraft to DXB

Dream on. The evidence, to me, that this is all performative is the lack of these airplanes in places where they'd be confrontational. Instead, you get 'we support you so long as it doesn't cost us". No one's afraid of upsetting catholics - but head for the mideast if you want to prove you're actually interested in rights for those folks. Looking at you, AA, UA, DL.

ABpositive wrote:

I imagine the livery would create limitations which routes the plane could serve. Qantas wouldn't want to fly the A330 with rainbow livery to the countries where homosexuality is still illegal, as it would be seen as a provocation to the local authorities.

Call me naive but I find this just reprehensible. I assume you're right. I think there's more dignity in not doing business in a country that you couldn't fly your pride-themed airplane to, than editing your values to fit the backwards ideologies. Like Disney or Netflix removing 'controversial' content in mid-east countries to fit their intolerant religious values.

I believe it's best for airlines to stay away from social issues. They can be inclusive and supportive of their employees without painting pride flags on their airplanes.
I also find this very hypocritical. Take United, for instance. United boasts of being socially conscious, yet they sucker budget-minded passengers into paying ridiculous fees like "Preferred" seating. This scam aims to siphon more money from customers who didn't splurge for EconPlus but don't want to sit in the back. Yes, United now charges for sitting closer to the middle. So, United and the others need to stop pretending to care about people. If airlines truly cared about marginalized groups, their actions would speak for themselves and there would be no need to affix decals to their planes.

Setting the table: I "play for the other team", am "a confirmed bachelor", or whatever phrase you want to attach to what is now called "gay".

With that out of the way, I wish all of this patronizing and "celebration" would just stop. Enough already. I am sick to death of it.

Fine, I am homosexual, but, I do not center my life around it. It is a minor part of who I am. Very minor. All of this patronization is for the crowd who view everything through their sexual orientation, and many just don't want to hear about it or see it "celebrated".

Gay and proud here too! I am hoping that the large number of gay employees is behind this push... agree that the community still needs an awful lot of support and visibility & endorsement & normalisation in many parts of the world...what to many of us might seems like an unnecessary display of acquired rights, for many others might be a welcome encouragement.
I never fail to recognise that my rights today are the fruit of battles fought by the brave men of yesteryear. If I am free to express myself and live an openly proud gay life in this day and age, it is entirely because others have had to fight hard against prejudice and established rules...
I am having it easy because of the sacrifice of others....

Magnum9 wrote:

BNEFlyer wrote:

Magnum9 wrote:

Please let me preface this post by saying I’m a gay male and this isn’t a post about the airlines doing anything wrong. Just curious others’ opinion. Here goes..

For as long as I can remember the airline industry (at least in the US) has been a large employer of gay citizens across all roles. In the past I’ve seen airlines like DL and AS sponsor gay pride parades at different in Seattle. However, there now seems to be a trend starting among airlines where they’re now painting aircraft in special rainbow liveries.

The first one I noticed was Qantas with the rainbow ‘roo livery on an A330:

https://community.infiniteflight.com/t/ ... roo/504709

Now UA has painted a 777 with a rainbow flag:

https://www.airliners.net/photo/United- ... ER/7154671

Given how long the LGBTQ community has sought employment with airlines I guess my question is why now all of a sudden are airlines moving past things like sponsoring local pride parades that last a weekend to painting airplanes with gay pride rainbow paint schemes that fly the message all around the world, including to destinations where homosexuality is heavily looked down on or illegal? (For example I’ve noticed QF’s rainbow ‘roo A330 has flown to Jakarta, Indonesia many times. Not exactly the most gay friendly city or country in the world.)

I may be in the minority but in my opinion it feels less like a supportive gesture and more like a “jumping on the bandwagon” scheme….identity politics?

QF started doing a Pride livery a few years ago to tie in with the Sydney Mardi Gras, and UA's Koala Pride livery was also for MG and World Pride in Sydney this year.

Interesting. Australia is leading the way and now influencing American competitors to get on board.

I’ve always wanted to visit Sydney during Mardi Gras.

Sydney Mardi Gras is nothing short of one hell of an amazing time - whether gay or straight, it's flat out awesome.

World Pride was just held in conjunction with Sydney's Mardi Gras this year, too.

A number of DHL planes have carried the rainbow, D-AEAS has a tail that reminds me of Transbrasil circa 80-90s