Air India Introduces Gender-Sensitive Seat Assignment for Solo Female Travelers and Moms

In a move to enhance the comfort and security of passengers, Air India has unveiled a new seat assignment policy catering specifically to solo female travelers and mothers. The airline’s directive, disclosed on Tuesday, encourages the allocation of aisle or window seats to these passengers, ensuring a more pleasant flying experience by the leading carrier, 

Here’s What Air India Official Says About Decision

The internal communication, dated October 3, declared, “To ensure the female guests traveling with us have a comfortable flight, we as a company are adopting a gender-sensitive seat assignment practice.” While the Air India spokesperson refrained from commenting on the development, other officials revealed that the change was initiated to prevent any potential discomfort or issues between male and female passengers.

Initiate by Air India for Female Travelers

Furthermore, the directive instructs cabin crew members to extend this offer to unaccompanied children seated in center seats. The communication emphasizes that the crew should exercise discretion when implementing this practice, particularly for female passengers traveling alone and mothers with infants seated among male passengers.

Here’s Why Air India Took Initiative

Air India’s decision comes in response to feedback from female passengers who have expressed discomfort when assigned middle seats. This initiative is part of the airline’s commitment to its ‘gender-sensitive seat assignment practice.’ The airline has instructed its relevant departments to ensure that middle seats are not assigned to solo female travelers if both aisle and window seats are occupied by male passengers.

While this move has garnered support from many quarters, some employees have raised concerns. One airline employee noted, “Every flight has at least 10% solo women travelers. This directive may not be an effective one.”

Comment From Aviation Expert

Aviation expert Mohan Ranganathan suggested an alternative approach, stating, “Rather than coming up with such a directive, which in all probability will lead to confusion, the airline should direct their concerned department to handle the situation at the booking level itself.” He added, “If the airline has taken a decision in the name of being gender-sensitive, then the airline should not cause confusion and chaos by introducing such a directive and allot aisle seats to solo women passengers while they book their air tickets.”