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Indian airline tests feature that lets women book seats away from men

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/indigo-tests-feature-that-lets-women-book-seats-away-from-men/

Women can choose not to sit next to men on any IndiGo flight. The feature could attract more female customers to the airline.

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.

125 comments

myliltoehurts

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I wish this existed but for avoiding having to sit near children.

Alexstarfire

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Unfortunately, kids can't go in the cargo hold. Something about needing air and warmth.

EtherWhack

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Overhead?

Alexstarfire

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charade_you_are

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Restraints and a gag

LostXOR

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The cargo holds on commercial flights are pressurized and heated. I can't imagine passengers would take kindly to their luggage being subjected to 0.3x atmospheric pressure at -55°C.

piccolo

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Permanently Deleted

3ntranced

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Just poke some air holes in the overhead cabin, bingo.

bitchkat

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They put dogs down there.

WreckingBANG

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They could, the cargo hold is pressurized, if you fly with animals like a dog, they go in the cargo hold too. Just dont forget to give them something to eat on long flights

DinosaurSr

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Yeah, sorry about that.

Edit: actually though, I wouldn't mind being seated in something like a "family" section. It really is hard to keep babies and toddlers still and quiet on a plane (or anywhere), and I always feel bad for the people sitting next to us.

explodicle

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I recently discovered movie theaters for kids and it's turned it back into a fun experience for me.

Kalysta

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You’d have to get airlines to treat people like something more than money making sardines before they will give you a family section.

Empty seats in that section they only view as lost money and really don’t care about your experience flying

Blackmist

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It doesn't help when airlines split people up for not paying the "don't get split all over the fucking plane" charge.

Then you end up with kids running between parents and standing all over people.

Honestly fuck airlines for making basic things an optional extra. It costs them literally nothing to sit a family all together.

Rozz

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Every time I book a flight I get so mad because there are so many little things that are up charges that should be default.

Blackmist

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You mean you want to take bags? And you want to sit down?

You want the bloody moon on a stick, you!

norimee

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I rather have a toddler continously kick my seat on a long haul flight than dealing with a overly "friendly" and intrusive guy who thinks its his right to bother me for 12 hours because I'm stuck there.

bitchkat

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Or us fatties.

shadowedcross

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Would definitely pay extra for this.

AllNewTypeFace

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Do Indian men have a reputation for being inappropriately forward with women? There was a meme that read “every app is a dating app if you’re Indian enough”

catloaf

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"Inappropriately forward" is a very polite way to put it. I feel like at least once a month there's a new story out of India about a gang rape or something.

FundMECFSResearch

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To be fair India has the biggest population on earth, like 5+ times US population. Per capita statistics would be more interesting here.

ticho

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With a topic as sensitive and biased against the victims as this, it's hard to get accurate data - see https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/rape-statistics-by-country

GregorGizeh

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Have you like, ignored every second piece of information coming out of india the last decades?

They have a terrible issue with misogyny, there are countless stories of rape and other forms of assault on any kind of women (and girls). Indians, foreigners, none are safe, even with men accompanying them for protection. One or two guys can't do much against a rape mob.

India is probably the first country I would warn a woman away from if she were looking for vacation destinations. Followed by islamic countries.

Socsa

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My wife got invited to a wedding in India and I was not invited (long story). She asked the bride if it was safe to travel to the wedding alone and she straight up said "No. You should find a travel buddy."

garbagebagel

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Yeah my sister went to India a few years back by herself and while thankfully nothing terrible happened to her, she said she would never go back. Just walking around she said the streets are majority men and they are not shy about staring at any woman (especially someone who was clearly a foreigner). Of course, parts of the trip were cool but definitely not the place to be travelling alone as a woman.

LotrOrc

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Mm idk about that. Yes there is a lot of violence against women in India. Generally, the Indians flying are not gonna be the ones doing that. Secondly, there is a lot of violence against women all over the world, it's not just an India thing. Hell half the US political system is trying to give women the death penalty for the consequences of being raped. Or just for deciding they don't want kids.

GregorGizeh

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Not denying violence against women is an issue elsewhere too, but you would be hard pressed to find such a staggering density of sexual violence, in rather public areas, committed by groups of men for little to no provocation other than a woman being in the wrong place.

Now I am not saying all Indian men are rapists of course, but there certainly is evidence of a system wide, cultural aspect creating and enabling this behavior in a way rarely seen elsewhere.

Rai

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So help you if you’re a lady who wants to be out after 6PM in UP or South Delhi… RIP Jyoti

LotrOrc

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Yeah I mean I can agree with the second paragraph for sure

I dont know the statistics off the top of my head, I'm just wondering how it measures up considering the number of people

But you're right. Especially considering what's just happened this week

ramenshaman

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As far as I know, yes. The Internet has taught me to not bring a woman with me if I ever go to the Holi festival in India. I've never been to India, I hope the internet is wrong but I had an Indian coworker who told me the same thing.

baatliwala

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As an Indian I'll say yes, but the people who can afford flights aren't normally the type of people who do that.

JovialMicrobial

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You could look up the gulabi gang. It's a group of women who fight to protect other women from violence.

Edit - I think it's best if we listen to Indian women speak on the problem. The first time I heard about the gulabi gang and why they exist I was horrified.

kippinitreal

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Others commented about misogyny etc. in India miss the fact that India is (a) not a monolith & (b) flights are too expensive for 80% of India's population (yes, wealth disparity in India is that bad). So the men on flights are less likely to grope women than let's say a man on a train.

I asked my Indian colleagues about this, and they said they'd use this preference for space (not purely safety). One of them also said men smell worse than women so she'd prefer a woman next to her.

norimee

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Yes.

intensely_human

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India is one of those cultures that still beats female rape victims to death

lustyargonian

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More like offer garlands and promotions.

LotrOrc

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Ya in the US they're just trying to kill them for having abortions lol

It's almost like people treat women shittily all over the world

thanatotus

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It's not Indian culture, stop spewing bullshit.

Rape victims are treated poorly in most of the developing countries

Schmuppes

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Do Indian men have a reputation for being inappropriately forward with women?

That's a very friendly description of their reputation.

FlyingSquid

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I don't think that's an Indian men thing, I think that's a predatory men around the world thing.

Cagi

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Indian culture is especially sexiest and repressive.

tunetardis

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I've been on long flights where I wished there had been designated seating for introverts. But then I considered the implications of packing all the extroverts together in one place nearby and thought better of it.

LouNeko

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So basically introvert are like the Boron control rods inserted into the crowd to prevent the extroverts from going critical.

tunetardis

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Nice. I had been using the analogy that an introvert at a party acts as a sacrificial anode consuming corrosive extroversion until they are utterly exhausted. But I like your take on it!

norimee

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I don't see the issue here. Most other indian transport has female sections. That is a normal part of public transportation there.

They do not "segregate". Its not like the whole plane is split into male and female zones. They just saying "Hey, if you feel more comfortable sitting with women, we got you."

I would probably not chose it on purpose, but i can see, how it can be a more relaxed experience for other women.

pancakes

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I also imagine for some women, the idea of getting plunked in a middle seat between two potentially creepy guys is a source of anxiety.

cows_are_underrated

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Not to sure(feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), but afaik Theres a quite big amount of rapes and sexual assaults happening in India so not being forced to sit next to a creep may be a good thing.

Maalus

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"They do not segregate, all they do is segregate"

norimee

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This meant IndiGo Air and their new seating policy.

You don't have to make a fundamental discussion about it on how you perceive and generalised indian society.

Lifter

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How about "we let private companies segregate in whichever ways they want!"?

norimee

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SINCE WHEN IS CREATING SAVE SPACES FOR WOMEN "SEGREGATION"??!!!

India is a country where you have to be careful not to look directly at men on the streets! Not to mention when you can't move away for hours.

Sometimes I find the rampant Misogyny on lemmy really disturbing.

Lifter

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Yes but I find all this both racist and sexist. Not all men in India are creeps, even if may be a rampant problem. Shouldn't they instead try to punish the weirdos?

norimee

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Of course and in an ideal world we wouldn't need save spaces for women. But we don't live in an ideal world and while not all men are creeps, still too many are.

I don't think I don't know any woman who wasn't at some point in her life sexually harrased and/or assaulted. All over the world. And as long as the situation is like that, people like you, who feel offended or "segregated" by female safe spaces are part of the problem.

Yes you, crying "Not all meennn" are part of the problem and why the world isn't safer for women.

BruceTwarzen

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I would rather not sit next to a fat person if i had the choice

stratoscaster

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Sorry bro :(

count_dongulus

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If the seats had more space like they used to a long time ago, nobody would care. I blame the airlines.

sunzu2

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You can apply thus logic 90% of bullsbit we face on daily but people preferto chimp out at each other instead of you know... The megacorps and their owners who treat working people as property and customers as brain dead idiots

Socsa

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Everything going ok India?

scarabic

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TBH even as a man I’d prefer to sit not with other men. They are bigger, for one thing. And overall less considerate, though of course they have no monopoly on that.

ipkpjersi

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Though I'm sure the women wouldn't want to sit near a man who wants to sit with women lol

ameancow

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I want seats next to nobody. How hard will that be to pull off?

octopus_ink

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I want seats next to nobody. How hard will that be to pull off?

Just be a man on a flight full of women.

(No snark intended there - I'm neither a danger to any woman I sit next to, NOR offended if no women sit next to a strange man (me) they don't know on a flight - but I definitely see an upside where maybe in some circumstances I get an empty seat next to me that I would not have had.)

phoenixz

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I feel rather conflicted about this feature.

On the one hand, I really am against any of these I don't want to be near men/women/brown people/minority, bit on the other hand, Indian men are the worst when it comes to showing respect to women. This ranges from reading the news on gangrape (reading any article you can assume "India" and be right about 60% of the time) to my wife walking on the street being followed by groups of Indian guys who apparently just never learned how to behave around women.

Allero

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Honestly I think in most cases segregation is just not the answer.

The more far away we become based on fairly arbitrary characteristics, the less there is opportunity for a meaningful dialogue that would change the status quo around the issue.

On a practical side, I wish there were proper passenger safety measures and procedures against harassment. A man is trying to do that to you? Record it and report to the crew immediately, and let them deal with the perpetrator and call police on the ground when applicable.

todd_bonzalez

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I get what you're saying, but we don't fix the issue of men sexually assaulting women, especially in a country that has such profound issues with this like India, by forcing women to remain vulnerable.

If allowing women to avoid being seated next to men on flights reduces the chance of sexual assault from taking place during flights, then I am all for it.

It just needs to be understood as a harm reduction technique, not the solution to the overall societal problem.

This is like saying cars shouldn't have seatbelts because it isn't discouraging people not to crash their cars. Seatbelts don't solve this issue, they just reduce harm. Think of this airline's decision as implementing a sexual seatbelt for women.

norimee

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You put it into words perfectly. Thank you.

corsicanguppy

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It just needs to be understood as a harm reduction technique

In politics, this WILL BE the solution because a half-measure 'solves' it.

Allero

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My concern is that the same men, frustrated at being unable to do this on flight, will do it somewhere else anyway. Also, some could be pissed off by this measure just enough to have a negative shift in mentality towards women (see incels that are driven by alientation). So does it really significantly reduce harm? I'd love to see numbers if anyone has got them.

todd_bonzalez

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What the fuck? You think that men are just hardwired to assault women, and if we stop them from doing it in one place they're just going to do it somewhere else?

What a self-report...

Allero

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I'm saying those particular men who find assaulting women acceptable find it acceptable everywhere, on a plane or outside. Or should we isolate women from men in all spheres of life? This in itself can't be the solution. Also, alienation that comes with such segregation is a common driver for violence, and I'd love to see how it might translate to more abusive sexual behavior, too. I don't have the numbers, and would love to see if someone does.

The rest is your emotional outburst. I hate to see Lemmy going in this direction and I hoped we won't have this bullshit here. Try to understand another person's take first and judge later, not the other way around. And don't make it personal, this immediately degrades the conversation.

todd_bonzalez

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This in itself can't be the solution.

That's exactly what I said, you just countered with something that sounded suspiciously defensive of sexual assault.

Allero

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I never defended sexual assault; I just said that:

If allowing women to avoid being seated next to men on flights reduces the chance of sexual assault from taking place

Is a big "if". In your original sentence, on the plane, yes, it might reduce the risk of assault. But life doesn't end outside the plane, and I wonder whether such restriction could just lead to increased risk of sexual assault elsewhere, due to a)frustration of the same men who didn't do it on the plane and can probably still do it in any other place; b)influence of such measures on how abusive men treat the status quo and resist it - thereby negating all the benefit.

Which is why, if you feel my take "sounds" like something, I ask to clarify first and attack later. This is not a ragebait dumpster, and people are generally acting in good faith around Lemmy.

todd_bonzalez

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This isn't ragebait, you are just very easily enraged. Apparently the topic of women's safety really sets you off.

Another self-report.

mholiv

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This is a terrible take.

corsicanguppy

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If he's saying "normalize people being next to one another so anti-social nutjobs can get over themselves instead of being violent" then I can see where he's going. It's like the "co-ed bathroom" craze we had for a while.

I'm not sure whether it'll help aggressive incels actually talk to gurls like people instead of sublimating from "I can list all the dinosaurs" to "you frigid ho" themes, but it could place other comfy male-company people in range or just someone burly to slap the actual shit out of someone who steps outta line. Equality has two sides.

I think either that solution or the segregation or the actual fix to the issue, they'll all take a lot of emotional growth, though; and we lack the people to help us do that here, let alone in places where misogyny creeps ever closer to the default.

mholiv

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I think it’s terrible because the take treats women as things that defuse incels. Like sacrificing some women is worth it. Feel gross and dehumanizing.

Allero

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I'm not ever saying women are dispensable tools in this fight (something you imply I said) or that we should "sacrifice" someone - the safety of every person is hugely valuable - I'm just saying that going separate is not gonna make things safer in the long run. There are other factors at play here that will show up, and we should not strive for knee-jerk solutions.

I doubt that separation alone is gonna help much, and I'd love to see comprehensive evidence for or against my take, if any exists. I want to see what is the best evidence-based solution that would actually improve safety of everyone.

If anything, I want to make sure as little women as possible are ever victims of such accidents, I'm just concerned over whether this is a best approach.

mholiv

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You just speak about women in a dehumanizing way that removes agency. It feel gross. Reminds me of doctors from the 90s that said we need studies to tell if inserting IUDs causes pain.

Allero

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Yeah that's part of what I mean.

Another part is that this proliferates the issue on both ends - aggressive men don't learn to behave well as they don't confront the situation and don't learn self-control, and women turn more to fear and loathing, severing more and more contacts with men and alienating them, which ends up hurting men and limiting their exposure to women side of the story, making them more violent.

BottleOfAlkahest

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It's not the job of women to put themselves in potentially dangerous situations for the betterment of men. Women not wanting to be easily assaulted is "hurting men" is a disgusting take and says some truly awful things about you.

Allero

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My take is exactly that the suggested approach might not improve women's safety overall. The "betterment of men", as you put it, is the key ingredient to a sustainable solution on male sexual harassment and violence, and segregation is a patch that can come with unintended consequences that will undermine this process and directly hurt women.

We may not ignore the social and psychological consequences of such actions for men, as their mental wellbeing is directly related to the probability of committing assault, thereby again, directly affecting women.

I'm trying to make a point to counter the immediate knee-jerk approach, and call to collect evidence on the efficacy of such measures to promote women's safety. Any policy should be driven by what actually works, not what we feel of it.

I urge you to stop assuming bad faith in everyone you disagree with, and to clarify first. Lemmy is very much a people-driven platform, and absolute majority of people here are well-intentioned. Thereby, if another person shares a different opinion, they probably come from a position of care as much as you do, they just have a different consideration in mind.

iknowitwheniseeit

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I think that it's not always just about harassment, but sometimes just wanting to be left alone?

sunzu2

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Buy entire row! Wtf

count_dongulus

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What you're describing is a big hassle, and at the end of the day a confrontation and poor customer experience still happened making that customer think twice before flying again.

roguemetahuman

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This

clot27

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Wake up babe, India mentioned on lemmy

TonyTonyChopper

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only 5 more years before they're a Lemmywide superpower

buttfarts

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Okay but then men are allowed to fart openly and take our shirts off in the no-women section while they drink chamomile tea and read thought provoking books about how they are okay just the way they are.

variants

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Are men allowed to buy a ticket to not sit around nude farting men

Makhno

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No. It's a rite of passage.

Tja

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Yes, it's called business. They fart fully clothed.

hungryphrog

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You can have that, but only if you let the women take their shirts off and fart openly too.

JeeBaiChow

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Me I don't want to sit next to a republican.

Deebster

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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.

What's to stop a man from claiming to be female to see the map of where women are sitting, and then booking an adjacent seat themselves?

Annoyed_Crabby

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They probably need to sign in to book, and required their data to be accurate to board.

kippinitreal

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On Indian flights you can pay to choose your seat or let the operator choose for you for free. I suspect the latter is where the preference choice comes in. So there won't be a question of seeing where women are sitting.

Womdat10

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I'd assume Indian airlines has an ID check,l and men aren't going to get a surgery and go through the process of changing their legal gender just to creep on women. This is also the same argument used against trans people in the bathroom debate, and while you probably didn't mean to, you are parroting the ideas of transphobes.

reddit_sux

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You pick your seat after the booking process, where you have to enter your details which does include sex. Even if you enter it wrong just to pick a seat you won't be able to enter the airport because they check that at the gate. Whether you are the same person whose ticket you are carrying.

Deebster

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I was thinking first would be the fake booking to find where the women were sitting, then switch browsers/clear cookies/whatever and book with the real details.

reddit_sux

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Yes but men wouldn't be able to book those seats unless all the other seats are taken.

At least that is what happens on the bus seats here.

Deebster

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Oh I see - yes, if the seats around the women are automatically reserved then that exploit doesn't work.

ChillPenguin

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The next feature they are adding is allowing female passengers to sit closer to any bears on the flight.

yamanii

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It's really sad that it's come to this, it's really bad over there just like here.

douglasg14b

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Just like "here", with "here" being where?

Agent641

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The return of smoking and non-smoking sections.

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Grass

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I mean I don't want to sit next to a man either, for some reason they tend to be offensive even if they don't feel like they have to talk to me for some reason. I also don't really want to sit next to anyone because it feels akward trying not to make eye contact or feeling like I have to say somehing. Most of all though no kicking children behind me. Fuck just introduce boxed in seats so I can fly in silence and solitude. Or don't, I probably can't afford travel for the rest of my life.

Tja

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It already exists. Business class.

stingpie

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What do you mean by offensive?

Grass

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2 times had different guys that smelled weirdly like literal shit, one time ranting about dumb maga shit like he thought he could convert me, the other one just being all around invasive and reaching over me to point both air things at him and adjust the window multiple times without asking.

cynthorpe

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I’ve had the exact opposite experience. Every woman I’ve sat next to had way too much perfume, couldn’t sit still, constantly in and out of their purse, and violently flipping through their phone and sighing heavily every 5 minutes because there was no internet. 🤷‍♂️

That said, no one I’ve sat next to in a 3-seat aisle knows the proper ownership of armrests.

WldFyre

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That sounds just as bad as dudes with unwiped asses and evangelical MAGAs intruding your personal space! Poor you /s