Indian airline facing backlash over a planned 'women only' row

Air India has been receiving complaints from female passengers about harassment on their planes, but their response to the problem has left people up in arms. The company is considering including a 'women only' row on its planes, and the public are furious that women should be the ones forced to move when a man is making them feel uncomfortable. 

From January 18th, Air India will give six women on each of their flights the chance to sit in a women’s only row. The option is only open to women who are travelling alone, and the company has not yet described how they will enforce the policy.

“We feel, as national carriers, it is our responsibility to enhance comfort level to female passengers,” said Meenakshi Malik, general manager of Air India’s revenue management.

In December last year, a passenger switched to an economy class seat during a Mumbai-Newark flight to sit next to a female passenger and allegedly groped her once she fell asleep. In a separate incident, an Air India flight attendant reported that she was molested by a passenger on a flight recently. The airline now keeps handcuffs on board domestic flights.

Whilst many are pleased that Air India is acknowledging the troubling problem, it has been suggested that they should consider designing better seating, or berating the perpetrator by having them move in the case of an incident.