In a groundbreaking move, India’s largest budget airline, IndiGo, has introduced a new feature allowing female passengers to choose seats away from male travelers. The innovative feature, currently being trialed, displays pink seats on the seat selection page to indicate female occupants, visible only to women booking tickets.
According to IndiGo’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, the feature has received positive feedback from customers and international recognition for the initiative. The move aims to enhance comfort and safety for female passengers, addressing concerns raised by previous incidents of harassment and inappropriate behavior on flights.
However, reactions on social media have been mixed, with some hailing the feature as a welcome step towards gender-sensitive travel, while others criticize it as discriminatory and sexist. Concerns have also been raised about managing cases of men identifying as women.
The feature is based on market research and aligns with IndiGo’s “#GirlPower ethos.” However, the airline did not directly address whether recent in-flight incidents involving men prompted the introduction of this service.
IndiGo’s decision comes after a series of incidents involving male passengers harassing or inappropriately touching female passengers on flights. In 2023, a drunk man urinated on a female passenger during an Air India flight from New York to Delhi. In another incident, a male passenger lifted the armrest between him and a female passenger and touched her inappropriately while she was asleep on an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Guwahati.
The introduction of this feature raises questions about the need for gender-sensitive travel options and the measures airlines can take to ensure passenger safety and comfort.
