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Unfortunately, kids can't go in the cargo hold. Something about needing air and warmth.

Yeah, sorry about that.

Edit: actually though, I wouldn't mind being seated in something like a "family" section. It really is hard to keep babies and toddlers still and quiet on a plane (or anywhere), and I always feel bad for the people sitting next to us.

It doesn't help when airlines split people up for not paying the "don't get split all over the fucking plane" charge.

Then you end up with kids running between parents and standing all over people.

Honestly fuck airlines for making basic things an optional extra. It costs them literally nothing to sit a family all together.

I rather have a toddler continously kick my seat on a long haul flight than dealing with a overly "friendly" and intrusive guy who thinks its his right to bother me for 12 hours because I'm stuck there.

Or us fatties.

"Inappropriately forward" is a very polite way to put it. I feel like at least once a month there's a new story out of India about a gang rape or something.

Have you like, ignored every second piece of information coming out of india the last decades?

They have a terrible issue with misogyny, there are countless stories of rape and other forms of assault on any kind of women (and girls). Indians, foreigners, none are safe, even with men accompanying them for protection. One or two guys can't do much against a rape mob.

India is probably the first country I would warn a woman away from if she were looking for vacation destinations. Followed by islamic countries.

As far as I know, yes. The Internet has taught me to not bring a woman with me if I ever go to the Holi festival in India. I've never been to India, I hope the internet is wrong but I had an Indian coworker who told me the same thing.

As an Indian I'll say yes, but the people who can afford flights aren't normally the type of people who do that.

You could look up the gulabi gang. It's a group of women who fight to protect other women from violence.

Edit - I think it's best if we listen to Indian women speak on the problem. The first time I heard about the gulabi gang and why they exist I was horrified.

Others commented about misogyny etc. in India miss the fact that India is (a) not a monolith & (b) flights are too expensive for 80% of India's population (yes, wealth disparity in India is that bad). So the men on flights are less likely to grope women than let's say a man on a train.

I asked my Indian colleagues about this, and they said they'd use this preference for space (not purely safety). One of them also said men smell worse than women so she'd prefer a woman next to her.

India is one of those cultures that still beats female rape victims to death

Yes.

Do Indian men have a reputation for being inappropriately forward with women?

That's a very friendly description of their reputation.

So basically introvert are like the Boron control rods inserted into the crowd to prevent the extroverts from going critical.

I also imagine for some women, the idea of getting plunked in a middle seat between two potentially creepy guys is a source of anxiety.

Though I'm sure the women wouldn't want to sit near a man who wants to sit with women lol

I want seats next to nobody. How hard will that be to pull off?

I get what you're saying, but we don't fix the issue of men sexually assaulting women, especially in a country that has such profound issues with this like India, by forcing women to remain vulnerable.

If allowing women to avoid being seated next to men on flights reduces the chance of sexual assault from taking place during flights, then I am all for it.

It just needs to be understood as a harm reduction technique, not the solution to the overall societal problem.

This is like saying cars shouldn't have seatbelts because it isn't discouraging people not to crash their cars. Seatbelts don't solve this issue, they just reduce harm. Think of this airline's decision as implementing a sexual seatbelt for women.

Are men allowed to buy a ticket to not sit around nude farting men

They probably need to sign in to book, and required their data to be accurate to board.