Women Flying Can Choose Not to Sit Next to Men on This Airline

An airline in India is now allowing women travelers to avoid booking their seat next to men on flights.

Since May, IndiGo, one of the country's largest budget airlines, has been testing out a booking feature that allows female flyers to actively avoid sitting next to men on their flights in an effort to promote comfort and safety for female travelers.

The new online booking feature shows female-identifying travelers a pink seat on the seat selection page if the seat will be occupied by a woman.

Men currently do not have access to the same feature or seating information when booking.

This seating information is made available as IndiGo travelers must input their gender identity when booking their flight.

A representative for the airline told CNBC Travel that the feature was launched to help women flying feel "more comfortable."

“Technology is now enabling some things which were not able in the past. We brought [the initiative] up as a test ... It has responded very well with our customers, but also internationally,” IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said.

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While some critics online called the new feature "discriminatory," IndiGo said the booking function aligns with their "#GirlPower ethos" and is based on market research.

CNBC Travel reports global airlines have recently been subject to multiple incidents of sexual harassment from male to female passengers.

In 2023, an inebriated man urinated on a female passenger during a flight from New York to Dehli.

The same year on an IndiGo flight, a male passenger sexually assaulted a sleeping female passenger in the seat next to his.