Airline allows female passengers option to choose seats next to other women
FILE-A woman reads on an airplane. (Photo by Barbara Alper/Getty Images)
IndiGo, the largest airline in India, is providing female travelers with a new feature when booking a flight.
Women who book will now have the ability to see where other women are seated and choose not to sit next to a man.
The seat selection change "aims to make the travel experience more comfortable for our female passengers," according to an IndiGo press release sent from the airline to FOX Business.
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"This has been introduced [based on] market research and is currently in pilot mode aligning with our #GirlPower ethos," the release said.
The State Department’s advisory on travel to India states "do not travel alone, particularly if you are a woman."
While checking in online before a flight, female travelers can view pink icons indicating where a woman will be seated.
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"This feature shows up at the time of seat selection and [is] visible to women only," an IndiGo representative told FOX Business via email.
IndiGo has a fleet of 360 operating over 2,000 flights daily, according to the IndiGo website.
"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 company's press release said.
India is the leading country for female pilots with 12.4%, whereas in the U.S., only 5.5% of pilots are women, according to an International Society of Women Airline Pilots report from 2021.
Some social media users reacted to the seat selection feature.
"It's troubling that women feel so unsafe around men on land, that they prefer to sit next to another woman even in the skies," one woman wrote on X.
Another woman posted, "this feels like a smart move by low-cost carrier IndiGo."
"I have no problem with this policy if men are allowed to do this as well," one man posted. "This policy as it stands would be unconstitutional in the USA as it violates the equal protection clause of the constitution. 14th amendment. Seems like a waste of time and software coding / tech debt."
"Empowerment takes flight!" another user posted.
"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," another person wrote.