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Every time you book a ticket, the airline website asks you for your title. As an example, here are the options provided on Lufthansa's website:

enter image description here

But why do airlines ask for the title in addition to the name? It's not like anyone ever asks you to prove that you're a doctor or a professor. So why not drop the Title field and just ask for the name and gender?

(inspired by this somewhat related question)

JonathanReez
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    Note that the titles Dr and Prof have a rather special status in German culture, and at least the use of Dr is even regulated by law. So some of this may be specific to the fact that Lufthansa is a German airline. – Nate Eldredge Nov 10 '19 at 10:23
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    As someone with a PhD, I would never use my Dr title when booking an airline ticket anyway. The thought of being asked to resuscitate a passenger mid-flight and then having to say "not that kind of doctor" is too much to bear. – TEK Nov 10 '19 at 13:47
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    Mr Dr? – user2752467 Nov 10 '19 at 20:27
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    “Mrs. Prof. Dr.” is just excessive – gen-ℤ ready to perish Nov 11 '19 at 02:50
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    My guess is that it is used as a form of gender identification - even within Europe there is ambiguity: take the first name 'Jan'. In most of Europe, this is a male name, but in UK it would be assumed to be female. And of course, with names from further abroad, it may be even harder to tell - is 'Jianfang' a male or a female? – j4nd3r53n Nov 11 '19 at 09:24
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    Perhaps they think so - I know (being a male 'Jan' living in UK) that it sometimes causes mild embarrasment, along the lines of me receiving emails that assume I'm female. There are businesses that are very concerned about getting these things right, although to me it is just a source of innocent fun. – j4nd3r53n Nov 11 '19 at 09:33
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    @shoover I don't know, but I guess that it's probably due to being translated from German. And if German's anything like French then "fraulein" has been dropped from general usage in the same way "madamoiselle" has been dropped from French, in the same way that "Ms." has replaced "Miss" in English. Here in Spain, "señorita" is still alive and well, but I imagine it'll get dropped over the next 10 years... – Aaron F Nov 11 '19 at 10:19
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    @gen-zreadytoperish It is. No English speaking person would use anything other than one of "Mrs", "Ms", or "Professor" - however a German would absolutely expect to use "Frau Doktorin Professorin". (The head of my dental practise is Herr Doktor Doktor Dorow".) – Martin Bonner supports Monica Nov 11 '19 at 10:27
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    @shoover The special treatment of females, by marital status is an Anglosphere thing. For example in the Netherlands too 'Mevrouw' is now just a way to formally address a grown woman, regardless of her love-life. – Ivana Nov 11 '19 at 12:24
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    @Justin Lardinois - again a german specialty .. because our Miss got overused and abused - its now frowned upon - we use "Frau" for both terms - and I wonder why the touchy americans still use it ^^ – eagle275 Nov 11 '19 at 12:49
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    @gen-zreadytoperish but that is my preferred third person singular pronoun! – Harper - Reinstate Monica Nov 11 '19 at 14:54
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    I once saw a dropbox that had three options: "Mr", "Mrs" and "Doctor". I was thinking it's a strange choice of a gender neutral pronoun. – Tomáš Zato Nov 11 '19 at 15:11
  • Most people implied some meaning on social status when using "Fräulein" - which directed at low paid jobs without special requirements. Like the person you reach when you call the phone center of big companies or departments of the local / regional government. And this prompted many - among them the feminists - to work against it. Nowadays the word is seen as Oldschool. Unfortunately it carried more value than just saying "unmarried woman" – eagle275 Nov 11 '19 at 15:35
  • @j4nd3r53n huh. I just realised the issue with 'Jan' in English speaking countries. Where I live it's a man's name. – stanri Nov 11 '19 at 16:49
  • For practical purposes they need to ask for the gender, but people - mind you rightfully - ask to be called Dr. instead of Ms. or Mrs. (at least in Germany). To resolve this, they add multiple option and then use the first title. – user3819867 Nov 13 '19 at 11:14

7 Answers7

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Airlines communicate with their passengers. Sometimes, in letters (emails these days) and sometimes verbally. In the past (and much of the software that runs airlines is old, or copied from older versions) proper address included a title. You could no more start an email "Dear Kate Gregory" than you could start it "Hey Kate" (as Netflix does when emailing me.) I know for a fact that airlines I use address me formally in emails, and if I happen to speak to a human, they also do. Like while boarding, "have a nice flight Ms Gregory" as they give me the boarding pass back after scanning.

The fact that many passengers don't want to be called Mr Whoever or Miss Whatsit doesn't cause the disappearance of those who do want to be addressed that way. The software exists, and sort of handles titles -- though clearly you can see design decisions from people who never imagined names ending in mr or dr, so the motivation to change it is very small.

Kate Gregory
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  • It is also a information that is contained in some passports. – Mark Johnson Nov 10 '19 at 09:20
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    I very much doubt that is why the airline asks for it. You don't even use passports on domestic flights, yet they ask. My passport includes my birthplace, but they don't ask for that. They ask for it because they use it. – Kate Gregory Nov 10 '19 at 09:21
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    They do send on information for international flights. But the proper address of a person is probably the original reason. – Mark Johnson Nov 10 '19 at 09:24
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    It also could go back even further, to the days when married women might use their husband's first and last name with a "Mrs." title. In that case, the title would be essential to distinguish the wife ("Mrs. John Smith") from the husband ("Mr. John Smith"). – Nate Eldredge Nov 10 '19 at 10:27
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    Friend of mine worked at a bank and their back end had loads more titles than the front end. He gave himself the title of "Wing Commander" – John3136 Nov 10 '19 at 22:29
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    There are many who specifically don't want to be addressed this way, so there should at least be an explicit no title - do not ever address me with a title option. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Nov 11 '19 at 00:13
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    I hate when firms like Netflix use that chummy "Hey Kate" introduction. It's like... you don't know me; you don't get to talk to me that! – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 11 '19 at 13:27
  • @NateEldredge I was very bewildered when I saw Mr & Mrs John Doe on an English letter (in an English household) the first time. This has never been a thing with names in German to the best of my knowledge. However, it has existed with professions, so Hannelore Kohl was Frau Bundeskanzler (while Angela Merkel is Frau Bundeskanzlerin**). As the question originates from Lufthansa’s practice, it most certainly does not go back to such a tradition because it didn’t exist in that way in Germany. – Jan Nov 11 '19 at 13:50
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    @Jan when my mother (a professor with a PhD) accompanied my father (also a professor with a PhD) to Germany for some academic event, they called her something like Doctor Professor Frau Doctor Professor -- definitely bewildering. – Kate Gregory Nov 11 '19 at 20:18
  • @DaG: I replied with a joke because I didn't deem the citation necessary; it seems obvious (not to mention seemed like others agreed). I certainly don't want to be addressed that way and I'm not even young anymore; I can't imagine people who are actually young want to, unless perhaps they're young enough that it makes them feel like they're no longer being treated as children. Instead of an unserious answer, should I just have said "ok, boomer"? ;-) – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Nov 12 '19 at 20:35
  • @R.. - Sorry, I thought there actually were statistics or studies to this regard. It may well be as you say but, personally, it doesn't seem to me so obvious as to be just assumed. But it's not that important, after all. – DaG Nov 12 '19 at 21:13
  • @DaG: For what it's worth, I'm not among this class, but I would think a large class where that might be common are people estranged from, disowned by, divorced from, etc. whatever family gave them their last name. I would imagine hearing yourself addressed as Mr or Ms [family name] would be unpleasant in that case. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Nov 13 '19 at 00:32
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    @R.. that option exists - simply don't make a selection. In my experience making airline reservations, the Title field isn't required. – FreeMan Nov 13 '19 at 13:39
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    @FreeMan: In my experience, if they ask it, it's required. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Nov 13 '19 at 14:11
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In Germany, Doctor becomes legally an addendum of the name. Kind of medieval and never updated. The title is written in official identity documents, etc. This does not apply to Professor, but if you make a special case for Doctors, why not go the whole nine yards?

o.m.
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    You're right that people can choose to have their Dr. registered in their official documents, and it's true that the title is particularly protected (it's a punishable crime to use Dr. illegitimately, for example). However, choosing to do so does not make Doktor a part of their name (see, for example, this German article). This means for eample that a PhD holder has no right to demand that it's being used to address them in official communication. Addressing someone as Herr Doktor Schmidt is always voluntary. – Schmuddi Nov 12 '19 at 13:50
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Same reason so many web forms reject valid e-mail addresses. Because people who make web forms copy older ones. So the hasn’t-been-needed-for-years “required field” endures. “We’ve always done it that way.”

WGroleau
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    Dropping the title field does bring with it additional issues. Let's just take Amazon, for example, as they have dropped the title field, but now users who insist on titles just put them in the "first name" field (e.g. Dr Fred instead of just Fred). This generates amusing "Dear Dr" or "Good morning, Rev" in e-mails. Obviously, the implication here is that people may put their title in the first name field when booking a ticket. It's solving one issue for one subset of society and introducing another for another, IMHO. – TEK Nov 10 '19 at 13:54
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    If the field is “important” to support another asinine form letter, it’s not important. – WGroleau Nov 10 '19 at 16:00
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    "Hysterical raisins." – muru Nov 10 '19 at 17:34
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    This answer is not in the slightest true. Happens regardless of web forms. – Emobe Nov 11 '19 at 09:24
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    When two are more things are true, that does not make one of them false. – WGroleau Nov 11 '19 at 13:06
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If you think Lufthansa is bad (they only use two titles plus address—or three titles if you include Mr/Mrs as a title), then wait till you see British Airway’s list:

Selection of titles at British Airways

On the other hand, Finnair does precisely what you suggest:

Finnair’s passenger information fields

Given this glaring difference between three European airlines (and flag carriers) that should otherwise be very similar, I strongly suspect the underlying reason is one of culture, heritage and history.

In Germany, the title Dr. has a special legal status, can be added to your ID documents, your credit card and you can insist on being called Dr. Meyer. Prof. does not have this special legal status but still carries a general prestige with it; interviewees, for example on television, will often be titled Prof. in the name badge things that pop up at the bottom of the screen if appropriate (exceptions exist).

In the UK, aside from the old distinction Mrs/Miss still being kept (as well as the more neutral Ms being available) and the you’re-not-quite-a-Mr-yet,-boy title master, a lot of those titles that can be selected relate to the old aristocracy or still existing royal institutions (The Rt Hon). While indeed most of the time most of those titles would not be used, proper politeness in formal situations requires being aware of them.

In Finland, society is perceived as much more egalitarian. Thus, all those distinctions are irrelevant and it boils down to Mr/Mrs (although the selection fields are male/female).

To further elaborate, allow me to present the booking form of Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company where online tickets are tied to a specific person whose name must be entered. I couldn’t expand both menus simultaneously, the left one simply contains the options Herr and Frau or Mr and Mrs. In a sense, it is identical to Lufthansa’s except it separates the gender and title into 2 × 4 fields rather than one list of 8. (I didn’t think of using the English booking system, sorry.)

Booking at bahn.de

Jan
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    Worth a note that finnish does not have gendered pronouns or titles at all, so the ones working the back-end ticket at database programming probably never even considered the issue. – Stian Nov 11 '19 at 13:09
  • I also notice that Finnair failed to consider cultures for whom the given name is not "first". – Lightness Races in Orbit Nov 11 '19 at 13:28
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    @LightnessRaceswithMonica Ah yes, the old assumptions about names, all of which are wrong. – Jan Nov 11 '19 at 13:39
  • I guess FinnAir will also have to update their website in the future as more countries allow the gender to be unspecified ('X'). – CompuChip Nov 11 '19 at 14:18
  • @CompuChip Probably not until airline tickets are no longer affixed with Mr or Mrs after the holder’s name. – Jan Nov 11 '19 at 14:37
  • "The Rt Hon" is a title used by the current Prime Ministers of certain Commonwealth countries. British Airways must be really hoping for their business. – user253751 Nov 11 '19 at 17:10
  • @user253751 It is also a title for members of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council; I feel there might be more of those than Commonwealth Prime Ministers ;) – Jan Nov 11 '19 at 17:12
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    @StianYttervik Finnish does have gendered titles, "herra" and "rouva" for "mr" and "mrs" but they've mostly fallen out of use. They're used in the military and for for the president, for example. – JollyJoker Nov 12 '19 at 09:19
  • @user253751 I thought it was also for MPs? – Stian Nov 12 '19 at 10:09
  • Apparently it is more than just Prime Ministers, but still quite limited. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Honourable#Major_current_title – user253751 Nov 12 '19 at 10:26
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    @StianYttervik MP’s (especially in parliamentary language) are called the honourable member for or my honourable friend. Members of the Privy Council are styled The Right Honourable which is actually a title rather than just a courtesy (and comes with postnominals) and in parliament are referred to as the Right Honourable member for /Right Honourable friend. Also, here is a (long) list of current Privy Counsellors. – Jan Nov 12 '19 at 12:49
  • If you think BA is bad, look at an Arabic airline like Qatar airways. – Brian R Nov 12 '19 at 16:31
  • Now that we've applauded FinnAir for useing two genders instead of twenty useless titles, it remains to be addressed why they left out all other genders ... – Hagen von Eitzen Nov 12 '19 at 17:15
  • Similarly, the Bayreuth Festival lets you choose your title from as very long list, of which Baron, Prince and... Bundeskanzlerin (Federal Chancellor, in its female form; the male form, Bundeskanzler, is not available, proving that this title was added only for Mrs Merkel, who is known to regularly attend the festival). – Alexandre d'Entraigues Nov 12 '19 at 17:49
  • BA doesn't support the higher forms of peerage: Earl (Marchioness), Duke or Archduke. I wonder if they assume that such exalted people don't fly scheduled. – Rich Nov 13 '19 at 00:06
  • @HagenvonEitzen Did someone applaud? – Jan Nov 13 '19 at 01:50
  • @Rich When addressed, Earls are called Lord or Lord of which is supported by the dropdown. Archduke seems to be a title only used in Austria meaning it is mostly irrelevant to the UK. I couldn’t find out how Dukes are referred to but I guess Lord covers them, too. – Jan Nov 13 '19 at 08:46
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When travelling with business/first class with e.g. British Airways you may be greeted with your title. I for one have been greeted with "Lord" when flying with Club World.

Mikael Dúi Bolinder
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First of all, not all airlines do this. I know plenty of forms that only offer mr/mrs or male/female options - but always at least that.

Some offer additional options for that field. If they do, it presumably for a simple reason: They know that at least some of their passengers like to be addressed in that way.

In many cultures and/or demographics addressing people with their title is considered important and people will take offense if it’s not done. And those who do not care can simply select mr or mrs - the inconvenience to them is minimal.

How to address your customers is not a question of right or wrong, but of knowing who they are. Instagram will never address users as “dear mrs user”, but if your bank starts important letters with “hey Kate” that would be just as wrong.

averell
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Title is a part of name

The reason for this is that traditionally (at least in some societies) the honorific title is an unalienable part of the full name when adressing someone. It's impolite to omit the title, and it's extremely impolite to use the wrong title - so if you want to address someone in a polite formal manner, you need to know their full name including the title.

You can't simply assume a title based on gender. Calling Sir John Doe as Mr John Doe is totally wrong; if your relationship allows that, then you might call them informally as John or Johnny or whatever, but if you address them using a title, then it must be Sir and not Mr, and of course for women there's the marital status implied by the title with you can't know without asking. The other option is to simply avoid using titles at all - but that means using language that's informal and (at least traditionally, at least in some cultures) considered not polite enough for companies addressing their customers with proper respect.

Peteris
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    Your point used to be right. Now the world is changing. Why include marital status with only 50% of the people? We do not even have a way to indicate that mr/sir John is married. I do not consider any title part of my name, but I can not select 'no title wanted'. – Willeke Nov 13 '19 at 17:21
  • @Willeke Sure, the usage of titles is changing, but the fact that traditionally titles used to be pretty much a requirement in formal communication (even if it's not any more) and the fact that traditionally it used to be pretty much a requirement to only use formal communication in business (even if it's not any more) is the proper answer to the title question of why this airline practice was implemented. – Peteris Nov 13 '19 at 18:06