Airline Allows Women To Choose Seats Next To Other Women Only So They Feel Safer
It's a small detail that makes a huge difference.
Natee Meepian | Shutterstock Any way you slice it, flying is a nightmare, from delays and cramped space to, perhaps especially, fellow travelers with all kinds of bizarre and rude behavior.
But for women, the experience is often far worse because it carries an extra layer of problems — harassment and assault onboard by male passengers. An Indian airline has come up with a solution that some feel should catch on worldwide.
Indian airline IndiGo now lets women choose seats next to other women to feel safer.
IndiGo is a low-cost airline and one of the busiest in India, operating some 2,000 domestic and international flights each day. Recently, it launched a new initiative for its female passengers.
To make them feel safer, women can now opt out of sitting next to men on IndiGo flights. The airline hopes this will "make the travel experience more comfortable for our female passengers."
The airline's booking system shows where women are seated on a seating map so women can choose adjacent seats.
The airline says its new booking system is part of a company initiative called "#GirlPower."
It's one aspect of its efforts toward "diversity and inclusion" at the company, in which 44% of the staff are women.
The airline told the U.K.'s The Mirror that the new booking system, which is currently implemented on a trial basis, is part of "our #GirlPower ethos." So how exactly does it work?
Female passengers booking either alone or as part of a family booking on the airline's website will see seats occupied by fellow women highlighted in pink on the seating map in IndiGo's booking system.
Male passengers will see a regular seating map without this information.
Harassment and assault on flights is an increasing problem around the world.
IndiGo did not state why exactly it is implementing this new system, only that it is part of a commitment to "providing an unparalleled travel experience for all our passengers." Of course, it was controversial among some people, mainly men, on social media, who felt it was discriminatory.
Many women online, of course, firmly disagree. As Canadian TV host Andrea Bain put it while reporting on the matter, "We live in fear of men every single day of our lives … the man in front of you could be the love of your life or a predator where you are running for your life."
That may sound melodramatic to some, but when it comes to air travel, the statistics side with Bain. In April 2024, the FBI released an alert about increasing incidences of assault aboard commercial flights against women and children.
The Bureau said it opened 96 cases in 2023 against perpetrators who had harassed or assaulted women or unaccompanied minors on planes, the majority of which involved unwanted touching, and warned that most incidents are strikingly similar.
There have been scores of news stories all over the world of such cases recently, including one just months ago when a flight from Edinburgh, Scotland, to the Spanish island of Ibiza was forced to turn around over the English Channel because a woman was assaulted on board and required medical attention.
Unsurprisingly, many women online have expressed enthusiasm over IndiGo's new procedure. It remains to be seen whether IndiGo's new policy will become permanent, but it just may be a much-needed solution.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.