India’s largest budget carrier, IndiGo, is the first airline to trial a feature that lets female passengers book seats next to other women to avoid sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a man in a move designed to make flying more comfortable for female passengers, according to a CNBC report.
The airline’s booking process is fairly standard except for the seat map which highlights seats occupied by women with the color pink. This information is not visible to male passengers, according to the airline, CNBC reported. IndiGo did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment on the new feature.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers told CNBC that so far, customers seem to like the new option, which the airline has been piloting on all flights in May.
All IndiGo passengers provide the airline with their gender, along with other personal information, when they purchase tickets and book seats. Customers seem to enjoy it, too, IndiGo’s CEO told CNBC.
“We have a significant share of female travelers. And, basically, technology is now enabling some things which were not able in the past … We brought it up as a test for female travelers to check in and see where they can sit next to another female traveler, and actually it has resounded very, very well of course with our customers, but also internationally,” CEO Pieter Elbers said in an interview with CNBC.
Indeed, passengers of all genders have complained of male seat mates “manspreading,” or encroaching on others’ space by keeping their legs far apart. Worse, some passengers across airlines have complained of men touching them inappropriately in-flight.
Not everyone is cheering the move, though. Some critics on social media wondered how the policy would apply to people who identify as nonbinary, saying the feature could be considered sexist and discriminatory.
“This doesn’t take into account that women can be predators too,” a commenter posted on a Reddit thread.