Air Vistara apologises for gaffe after passenger’s tweet on gender bias goes viral

However, someone pointed out that the gaffe wasn't restricted to females only and the "professor" tag wasn't working for men either. Others also started a conversation on the gender binary.

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The company apologised on Twitter after they spotted the screenshot.

Air Vistara found itself on the receiving end on Twitter after a woman took to social media to complain of gender bias in the airline’s website. Shyama Rath was filling personal details on a form on the company’s website when she found out that it would not allow her to select the prefix “professor” in the title as she had chosen “female” as gender.

The message on the site read, “Title PROFESSOR is not valid for this gender. Please change your TITLE option.” Taken aback by the message, Rath shared a screenshot of the reply on Twitter. “Common, #Air_Vistara,” she wrote.

Common, #Air_Vistara pic.twitter.com/jqIJL1WiIa

— shyama (@rath_shyama) July 25, 2019

The tweet quickly garnered a lot of attention online and many took a jibe at the airline. However, Air Vistara soon took cognizance of her message and apologised for the glitch, thanking Shyama Rath for bringing it to their attention.

Dear Ms. Rath. Thank you for pointing this out. This certainly is not done correctly, we will have it fixed. Apologies for this, we are embarrassed to see this, Vishal.

— Vistara (@airvistara) July 25, 2019

Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer of Vistara Sanjiv Kapoor also apologised and said he was “mortified to see” it.

Shyama, I am mortified to see this. Apologies, and thanks for pointing 5his out. We will have it fixed!

— Sanjiv Kapoor (@TheSanjivKapoor) July 25, 2019

Twitter users started to troll the company and opined somewhere a developer was “dead”. However, someone pointed out that the gaffe wasn’t restricted to females only and the “professor” tag wasn’t working for men either. Others also started a conversation on the gender binary.

😂😂Great. So Vistara cannot be accused of gender bias. Since a Professor cannot proceed further, best is to eliminate the option

— shyama (@rath_shyama) July 25, 2019

Please also be mortified for restricting gender to binaries, thereby excluding those who do not identify with either of the two genders. @FeminismInIndia

— Shijoy Varughese (@shijoyvarughese) July 25, 2019

pic.twitter.com/H1ChkMqG85

— Jenelle D’Alessandro (@freshgreenbeans) July 25, 2019

Their software tester will get earful today. 😀

— Jai Shri Ram (@JaiShriRam2002) July 25, 2019

😂 Unless he/she added “Professorette” in the drop-down..

— Ish (@Phrustated) July 25, 2019

Noooooo, this cant be real. This is outrageous. Have you tried with some other career options? Like teacher, nurse. Just curious.

— Shalini Sharma (@shaliniharnot) July 26, 2019

My coder/programmer fiance says “this sorta input error can only happen if a programmer actively, consciously built in that a professor cannot be female. So, it’s more than stupid it’s downright nasty”. https://t.co/T0DOd93m8C

— Smita Magar (@teentare) July 25, 2019

When buying an air ticket can turn into a sexist nightmare! Apparently ‘Professor’ is not a valid title for female gender 🤦🏽‍♀️ https://t.co/Lh0s3vGwZ4

— Sanchi Rai سانچی (@sanchirai) July 25, 2019

That bug in widely used systems across the world. That bug called #misogyny. @airvistara thought you were better than this. https://t.co/H6jifnlmim

— Satadru Mukherjee (@SatadruHata) July 25, 2019

Gender biased programer busted. https://t.co/GdY78431kf pic.twitter.com/YUjdtUEwo7

— Rajani Santosh (@chasanraj) July 25, 2019

Ughhh. And people still feel there is no bias in tech. #genderequity #tech #NeedWomenEngineers https://t.co/G7Ma0Ztp7L

— vee (@vidhyas) July 25, 2019

Later, Kapoor tweeted that the glitch had been fixed.

This has been fixed. Apologies again for the embarrassing glitch, we are taking measures to ensure no such recurrence. Thank you again for bringing it to our attention.

— Sanjiv Kapoor (@TheSanjivKapoor) July 25, 2019