Mustafa – stock.adobe.com
No boys allowed.
Women will soon be able to avoid sitting next to male strangers on a plane — in a first-ever initiative launched by a popular South Asian airline.
India-based IndiGo, the largest low-cost airline in the country, will allow female flyers to see a special seating map during the online check-in process that shows them — in pink — where other members of the fairer sex are seated, The Mirror reported.
Male passengers will not be made privy to the same information — instead, they’ll continue to see all available seats, as one normally would.
The femme-friendly initiative is being offered in an effort to make solo travelers of the fairer sex feel more comfortable during their flight, the company said.
“IndiGo is proud to announce the introduction of a new feature that aims to make the travel experience more comfortable for our female passengers. This has been introduced [on the] basis [of] market research and is currently in pilot mode aligning with our #GirlPower ethos,” a representative from IndiGo told the outlet.
“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,” they said.
The feature will reportedly be available by next month on all IndiGo flights.
REUTERS
Reactions online appear to have been mixed.
“I have no problem with this policy if men are allowed to do this as well,” one X user said.
“What happens when a man does not want to sit next to a woman,” a Mirror reader queried.
“Works both ways but this will land someone in court,” another mused.
Meanwhile, men behaving badly while airborne has long been a popular subject of discussion online — one furious woman took to social media not long ago to complain of a seatmate who resorted to “manspreading” during the entire flight.
“Why do so many guys on planes think they can spread out and consume other people’s space?” the frustrated jetsetter wrote.
Another P.O.’d passenger recently ranted about a man who spent the entire journey with “his whole left leg in my leg space.”
“C’mon!” she exclaimed to a popular Facebook group.