From Wednesday, Air India will allocate six seats in the third row of its economy class cabin for solo women travellers - making it the only airline in India, and possibly the world, to take this step, said the official. India already has policies which segregate women from men on public transport to avoid sexual harassment and molestation. Many trains - both underground and overground - have carriages reserved for women, and some buses have women-only seats. Many news reports have linked Air India's decision to introduce the women-only seats to incidents of sexual assaults on the state-owned carrier over the last month. On Dec 21, a 40-year-old female passenger complained that a man sitting next to her groped her as she slept during a flight from Mumbai to New York.

Source: Bangkok Post January 17, 2017 20:25 UTC