I like the idea of this option for women - air travel

India does seem to be extremely bad in this respect, in that public harassment of women by men, including in groups, is very much accepted by men. They call it "Eve teasing" which minimises how serious it is.

"What does this teach our boys? that they're all pervs?"

I recall maybe a decade ago an airline, BA I think, introduced a policy where men couldn't sit next to any children except their own, causing controversy as it gave the message all men are dangerous and can't be trusted even with ~200 witnesses present. It came to an end and didn't catch on.

Here's a better option, when booking flights passengers who wish to drink alcohol on or just before the flight will need to state so. Non-drinkers who wish to be seated away from drinkers can say so where the system will try to assist when choosing seats.

IMO drunks tend to make up at least 99% of problematic passengers on flights.

I don't think it does necessarily, any more than single sex facilities does. It depends on how you frame it, and one way it can be framed is however you slice it, there are always a certain number of pervs. Enforcement can help some but not wipe that out.

I think women differ significantly on how far they like to take those kind of social options for single sex only.

I don't recall Malaysia Airlines offering such information. But I can confirm that Malaysian long-distance trains do provide the M/F information (you are required to provide passenger details upon booking).

This!

l work with men and women, l socialise with men and women, l even have a friend who met how husband on a plane!

l want to respect men around me and expect them to do the same to me. But when l want a wee, l want just around me, women!

What does this teach our boys? that they're all pervs?

I'm not saying I know a solution, but I despair as it's always a few shits that make it worse for everyone. If it wasn't for them, we can all sleep comfortably in the nude without being harassed.

We need better enforcement.

I've seen similar on other airlines operating from/within predominantly Muslim countries - when you go to reserve a seat online it displays "M" and "F" to indicate whether a man or a woman has pre-booked which seats. I'm going to be really unhelpful and not remember which ones though. I was travelling a lot in SE Asia so I think it was Malaysian Airlines and one of the Indonesian ones. This was presumably for religious observance rather than an initiative to keep women safe, but could be used the same way. The blanking out seats around women that IndiGo are doing doesn't sound workable in practice though.

I think if this is seen as ok, it should also be ok for men who don't want to sit next to women for religious and other reasons. The two are not necessarily as far apart as people seem to think, many orthodox religious people, be they Jewish, Muslim, etc, see this kind of rule as a way of protecting women and avoiding the appearance of impropriety.

I'm not saying it would be wrong to allow it - but I think very tricky to manage unless done as sections - male, female, mixed, rather like first class, economy, etc.

I can see why people would support this, but I can see how it could cause a number of unintended consequences. It also does nothing to challenge men's behaviour, just puts the onus on women to avoid it.
So if the women's section is full, or you can't find a seat next to a woman, are you fair game to be assaulted or harassed? Some men will definitely see it like this.

I think you are wrong. In most western countries men will do this ,particularly on public transport. There have been many threads here on MN describing the daily sexual harassment of women and girls.

No, whilst misogyny and harassment are common worldwide, there are very few countries where random groping is as big an issue as it is in India.

Seating allocation is a nightmare for airlines as it is. We live in a mixed sex world. We need to learn to cope with that. And l say that as a feminist. This is different to areas which require a safe space for women; aircraft cabins are supervised. If a man is behaving inappropriately we should not accept that for minute and report it to the cabin crew.

I don't think they can do that due to needing to spread weight distribution.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5110258-men

I posted this a month ago when I was on a flight. Yes, I’d like to be able to avoid it.

I also think it is due to religious reasons- I have been on 2 flights (both from New York to London) where my daughter has been asked to move because a man couldn’t sit next to her- she refused and we refused as her parents.
the last flight was late taking off due to the number of men that were struggling to find somewhere to sit that wasn’t next to a woman - and women were refusing to move (good for them!!)

I had this on a flight to canada.
he didn’t kick off per se he but I just swapped with a man one row in front.

I like this initiative but think it’s depressing and demonstrates societal regression that it’s needed.
i also think it’s only workable for a section of seating rather than all seating. I also think it will be abused by perverts who identify as women and want to cause a scene make some point/ make women uncomfortable

Yes, and scream about discrimination if they're refused.

"If you are a male passenger wishing to pre book, the seats immediately around a female's pre booked seat will be blanked out."

But if I was a man, and saw a block of greyed out seats, I would think, hmmmm a woman is sat in the middle of those greyed out seats. If I select a seat right next to the greyed out block, I will have at least one free seat on one side since a man can't sit there and neither will another woman. WIN. I would then (if I was normal) proceed to spread out over my free seat during the flight or (if I was a perve) perve on the lady one seat along from me/diagonally across from me, to my pervy hearts content.

“It is a shame that India concentrates on this kind of thing rather than actually making it socially unacceptable for men to grope and harass women.”

could be said about all countries..At least in India we have an option.

I think it’s an interesting initiative, will have to see how it pans out in reality. I’ve travelled in women only sections of trains in India.

It is a shame that India concentrates on this kind of thing rather than actually making it socially unacceptable for men to grope and harass women.

They obviously will.

Men who identify as women will book the seats, sadly.