IndiGo considers making women's seating choice feature permanent

India's largest budget carrier, IndiGo, appears ready to make permanent a trial that allows women to pick seats beside other female passengers. IndiGo officials report positive feedback on a program that shows women passengers a different seating map than the one accessible to men. Female passengers, who must state their gender when booking a flight, see a map that highlights available seats in pink if they are next to another woman. Male passengers receive the standard seat map.

CNBC reported that an IndiGo spokesman stated the gender-based booking system aims to make travel "more comfortable for our female passengers" and noted that market research supports the airline's "GirlPower ethos." CEO Pieter Elbers commented on the initiative's success: “Technology is now enabling some things which were not able in the past. We brought [the initiative] up as a test ... It has responded very well with our customers, but also internationally,” Elbers said. On social media, women have expressed their approval of the booking feature by sharing complaints about male seatmates ranging from "manspreading" to unwanted touching.