Popular airline gives women option to not sit next to men

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A South Asian airline is the world’s first in offering female passengers the choice to avoid sitting next to a man.

Women who fly on IndiGo, a low-cost airline in India, will have the ability upon check-in to see where women have already selected seats online, the Mirror reported.

This will allow women to book seats next to other women instead of being seated next to a man, if that is their preference.

Men will not be shown the information of passengers’ genders when booking their seats and will continue to see all available seats, as normal.

IndiGo’s policy change, which takes effect in August on all of its flights, is designed to make women feel more at ease, particularly when they are travelling alone, the airline said.

“IndiGo is proud to announce the introduction of a new feature that aims to make the travel experience more comfortable for our female passengers,” an IndiGo representative told the outlet.

“This has been introduced [on the] basis [of] market research and is currently in pilot mode aligning with our #GirlPower ethos.”

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They added: “We are committed to providing an unparalleled travel experience for all our passengers, and this new feature is just one of the many steps we are taking towards achieving that goal.”

Separating passengers by gender is not uncommon in India, with the country’s local trains having female-only cars.

IndiGo is one of India’s largest airlines with more than 2,000 domestic and international flights daily.

More than 44% of women make up IndiGo’s workforce, the airline said in a press release earlier this year, and it is the only airline in the country with an all-female cabin crew.