In what could be a first in the world, India's national carrier Air India has decided to reserve six seats on every domestic flight for women passengers from January 18.
The six seats will be reserved in the front rows without charging any additional fees
The move is apparently in the wake of a recent on-board incident of molestation on Air India's Mumbai-Newark flight. A business class passenger changed his seat to sit next to a woman passenger in the economy class and allegedly groped her while she was sleeping.
“We feel, as national carriers, it is our responsibility to enhance comfort level to female passengers. There are a lot of female passengers who travel alone with us and we will be blocking a few seats for them,” Air India general manager-revenue management Meenakshi Malik told The Hindu.
The Air Passengers Association, however, criticised the decision calling it an unpractical move which would lead to gender discrimination.
