This airline is launching a vacation-planning service for LGBTQ travelers
LGBTQ travelers will have another option for planning trips from LGBTQ friendly airline Virgin Atlantic. The LGBTQ initiative was first announced at the 2024 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards ceremony in London, and they’ve finally provided more details about the travel planning service. Keep reading to learn what to expect, and my perspective on the announcement.
Free to Be Me is Virgin’s Queer Travel Planning Service
Free to Be Me is a joint venture from Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Atlantic Holidays that plans to make vacations more inclusive for LGBTQ+ people.
The gay and lesbian travel initiative was announced in 2024, but recently Virgin provided more details about what we can expect:
- Holiday planning from LGBTQ+ experts they’re calling “Rainbow Makers” – I’m super curious to learn more about this. Will the rainbow maker be putting together a custom trip for them, like these LGBTQ-friendly trip planning companies? Or is this more about picking from pre-selected itineraries, because those can be hit or miss?
- Queer destination guides crafted in partnership with local communities, so you can trust the information to be both culturally sensitive and up to date – I hate when I make the effort to track down a queer bar on vacation only to find out that it no longer exists, and whatever LGBTQ travel blog post I found it on was sadly out of date. So I think this is a great feature!
- LGBTQ-friendly hotels – There are already several Pride certified programs for hotels to prove they’re queer-friendly. While I’m curious why Virgin isn’t partnering with an up-and-running LGBTQ-friendly accreditation scheme but creating their own, more inclusive options is a win for the LGBTQ travel community!
Why Virgin’s LGBTQ Program Matters
It’s no surprise around here, but most queer people do not feel comfortable being themselves on vacation. In fact, 85 percent of queer couples dial back the affection when traveling together. Sometimes, this is because of homophobic laws in the country their vision. But even the fear of a negative reaction causes LGBTQ travelers to restrain themselves.
Among cishet couples, just 16 percent feel the need to be restrained. The vast majority – 84 percent – allow themselves to express affection on vacation, without giving a second thought to who might see them or how they’ll react.
This disparity is the reason for programs like Free to Be Me.
At a time when many other corporations are cutting back on inclusive programs, it’s nice to see Virgin double down on inclusivity. Because the kind of world that I want to travel in is one where we can all be the best versions of ourselves.
How Virgin Atlantic Already Supports Queer Travelers
Some companies roll out initiatives like this one without knowing much about queer travelers. Or if they do cater to queer women, they don’t mention it in their marketing materials – outside of a few token Pride month posts.
Virgin is different. They have a track record of solid allyship with the LGBTQ community. Their LGBTQ travel planning service joins other queer-friendly initiatives, like these ones.
- Staff training on inclusivity: Virgin developed a “Be Yourself” DEI training program and requires all staff and partners to take it.
- Gender-neutral uniforms: They have a gender-neutral uniform policy and offer pronoun badges for employees and travelers.
- Queer-friendly grooming policies: Virgin Atlantic’s staff can choose whether to wear makeup and are allowed to have visible tattoos – something you might not realize is half of all queer people and over 2/3 of all queer women in the US are tattooed.
They not only say they are an ally, they’ve demonstrated their allyship in meaningful ways over the years, and I’m excited to see how they roll out this new LGBTQ-friendly offering.
The announcement was short and sweet. As more details become available, I’ll share them with you! In the meantime, check out other LGBTQ friendly brands and travel companies standing up for trans rights!
Want the latest LGBTQ travel news straight to your inbox? Sign up for the newsletter to get posts like this delivered to your inbox twice a month, + personal news and updates! Subscribers get incredible freebies like LGBTQ+ events guides, travel maps and more.
