Air India now assigns seats based on gender to moms and women traveling alone

In an effort to improve customer comfort and security, Air India has launched a new seat assignment policy tailored especially for mothers and women traveling alone. The airline’s rule, which was made public on Tuesday, advises giving these customers aisle or window seats to make their flight more enjoyable.

What an Air India official has to say about the choice

The October 3 internal message said, “To ensure the female guests traveling with us have a comfortable flight, we as a company are adopting a gender-sensitive seat assignment practice.” The adjustment was implemented to avoid any possible discomfort or problems between male and female travelers, according to other authorities, who declined to comment on the situation.

Air India’s Initiative for Female Travelers

Additionally, the guideline tells the cabin staff to make this option to any unaccompanied youngsters sitting in the middle seats. The notification underlines that the crew should use caution when putting this approach into action, especially for female solo travelers and mothers with young children sitting next to male passengers.

What Motivated Air India to Take the Lead?

In response to input from female passengers who complained about their discomfort when given middle seats, Air India made its decision. The airline is committed to its “gender-sensitive seat assignment practice,” which includes this effort. If both aisle and window seats are occupied by male customers, the airline has directed its relevant departments to make sure that middle seats are not allocated to solitary female travelers.

Despite widespread support for this decision, several workers have expressed their worries. There are at least 10% solitary female passengers on every trip, according to an airline staffer. This order may not be very effective.

Expert Aviation Comment

Instead of issuing such a directive, which almost certainly would cause confusion, the airline should instruct their responsible department to address the matter at the booking level itself, according to aviation expert Mohan Ranganathan. “If the airline has decided to be gender-sensitive, then the airline should not cause confusion and chaos by introducing such a directive and assign aisle seats to solo female passengers while they book their air tickets,” he said.