U.S. AIRLINES TO LET CUSTOMERS CHOOSE ‘NON-BINARY’ OPTION

Major U.S. airlines say they will soon change their ticketing process to give passengers an option to identifying themselves as male or female. The gender option on airline sites will soon include choices such as “Mx.” or “undisclosed.” The airlines say they are making the change to be more inclusive in dealing with a diverse population of travellers. American, Delta and United confirmed the move on Friday, and said the change will be made in the next several weeks. “We certainly have a very diverse customer base. This will be well-received, and we’re happy to do it,” American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said. United Airlines plans to let people select M for male, F for female, U for undisclosed or X for unspecified from the gender menu when booking a ticket on its website or mobile app, said spokeswoman Andrea Hiller. raise driver commissions and invest heavily in marketing and recruiting. Uber has held talks with Careem since the middle of last year about a potential merger, but the companies have not reached an agreement.

Uber Eats is also battling a crowded food-delivery industry, forcing it to adopt discounting tactics to compete with companies like food-delivery startup DoorDash, which is in the process of raising US$ 500 million from investors at a US$ 6- billion valuation, and restaurant and grocery delivery company Postmates, which filed for an IPO this month.

Uber has no plans to slow investment in Uber Eats or other costly areas such as autonomous car development to show profit any time soon. The firm’s losses before interest, taxes and depreciation spiked in the fourth quarter to US$940 million, a 43-percent jump over the previous quarter and a 21-per-cent increase from 2017.

“I believe investors will forgive even higher fourthquarter losses if there’s evidence of significant topline growth,” said Arun Sundararajan, a professor of business at New York University Stern School of Business.

But, he said, Uber’s business still represents a fraction of global consumer spending on transportation, and “evidence that Uber is making significant inroads into changing behaviours” is critical to its long- term success.

JOHN LOCHER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Food delivery services like Uber Eats and GrubHub are taking off like a rocket, but some restaurants aren’t on board. This week, Jimmy John’s sandwich chain launched a national ad campaign promising never to use third-party delivery.