Airline allows women to choose seat away from men in world first

In a world first, an airline has announced it’s changing a key procedure for women travelling on board its planes. Sorry men, it’s not on the cards for you.

In a world-first move, an airline is giving women the option to choose the gender of their seatmate in a bid to make them feel safer.

IndiGo will make the change from August, when female flyers will be allowed to book seats next to other women if they don’t want a male seatmate. They will be able to check the gender of the flyer sitting next to them prior to booking.

However, this change will not apply to men. Upon booking their flights, men will not be shown the gender of their seatmate and instead will only be able to view available seats.

The low-cost carrier is a codeshare partner of Qantas, and Australian passengers travel on-board its planes for destinations such as India, as well as within the country.

The idea for the seatmate change came from an IndiGo survey where they asked females what would make travel more comfortable.

The airline has made a change. Picture: iStock

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

“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.”

The move will introduced on a trial basis at first.

Long-distance trains in India, as well as suburban commuter trains in the capital Mumbai, have women-only compartments. It’s not the only country to separate the sexes – with Japan and Iran having similar arrangements on public transport.

Assaults on flights do happen and women are more vulnerable. A report by the FBI in April warned that in-flight sexual assaults are on the rise, reporting 96 cases in the US in 2023.

The report mentioned that men are the usual perpetrators, and women and unaccompanied minors are the victims.

Cheerful female traveller holding smartphone and smiling while sitting in passenger chair in plane

“Flyers are urged to be aware of their surroundings and take precautions to stay safe, including keeping the armrest down between you and your seatmate and requesting a seat change if the passenger next to you engages in behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable,” the FBI advised.

Meanwhile in Australia, during the 2022/2023 Christmas and school holiday travel period the Australian Federal Police charged almost 50 passengers with 69 offences at major airports.

There has been a mixed reaction on social media to to IndiGo’s attempt to make female flyers feel safer.

One commenter wrote on X: “Why can’t they allocate left side for one gender and right side for another gender.

While another said: “This is absolutely rubbish”.

And a third wrote: “How will the computer know the gender, what if they trick!”

There was also concern about how the good seats could be snapped up: “Almost all seats available will be the middle ones”.

Meanwhile a man protested: “What if I don’t want to sit by her? It works both ways”.

However, others praised it as a “great initiative”.

IndiGo operates more than 2000 domestic and international flights every day and is India’s largest airline.