Airline to allow women to choose the gender of passengers sitting next to them

An airline has announced that it will give women the option of choosing the gender of their seatmate.

IndiGo, which is India’s largest low-cost airline, revealed that it will allow female travelers to check the gender of the person they are sitting next to. 

The new measure grants women travel safety and security by letting them book seats next to other women if they wish to not be seated next to a man. 

Meanwhile, male passengers are not shown the gender of their seatmates and instead will only be able to view available seats.

IndiGo will give female passengers the chance to choose seats next to other female passengers. Credit: NurPhoto / Getty

IndiGo, which is a codeshare partner of Qantas, will make the changes from August 2024 on all of its flights.

The airline shared a statement about the new groundbreaking rule, which read: “IndiGo is proud to announce the introduction of a new feature that aims to make the travel experience more comfortable for our female passengers," as cited by CNN.

"This has been introduced basis market research, and is currently in pilot mode aligning with our #GirlPower ethos," they continued. “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.”

Male passengers will only be able to see available seats. Credit: NurPhoto / Getty

The aircraft, founded in 2006, operates more than 2,000 domestic and international flights per day in India.

The new initiative came from a survey that asked female passengers what would make travel more comfortable for them, according to Daily Mail.

While it is the first of its kind in the global aviation industry, the measure already exists in India with local trains and buses having female-only carriages.

Several users welcomed the news under a Reddit forum discussing the announcement, with one person writing: "Smart move that is sure to build customer loyalty. Especially given the increase in news stories of creeps being caught on flight."

Another shared: "Extremely relieved to see this," while a third said: "From a business and women safety PoV this is definitely a very good move."

However, they added that they "feel really sad that it has come to this," explaining: "Women should be and feel safe regardless of the people sitting next to them."

So true.

Featured image credit: Yifan Zhang / Getty