Every so often, a story appears in the press about an Orthodox man who refuses to sit next to a woman on an airplane, demanding that his seat be changed and that his religious requirements be met.
I am certainly not against an individual asking politely if it might be possible to change his seat. Sometimes a plane is not full, making such a switch very easy to accomplish. Other times it is possible to find a willing partner, especially if the person who wants to switch is sitting in a window or aisle seat and the other person is in a middle seat. However, I think it’s important that the switch be done in a discreet manner, in order that the woman who is sitting next to the man who wants a seat change not feel ashamed or embarrassed. It’s also important for a person’s request to change his seat not create any transit delays and thereby create a chilul Hashem.
What I do object to is the argument that an individual can use religion to demand that his seat be changed.
When purchasing an airline ticket, a person must respect the terms of the purchase, which in this case means sitting in the seat that was assigned to him or her. Orthodox men who have purchased a ticket for a flight must follow the rules of the airline. According to Jewish law, when one is living in a country, it is a requirement to follow its laws (dina demalchuta dina — “the law of the land is the law”). And just to be clear, this would also apply to women who have purchased a ticket; they must respect the terms of their purchase too, and they also do not have the right to demand a seat change.
As to whether Jewish law would prevent a man from sitting next to a woman on an airplane, no less an authority than Rav Moshe Feinstein ruled that a man may travel on the New York City subway even though it might occasionally create incidental contact with members of the opposite sex sitting next to him. The reason is that this does not stimulate any inappropriate sexual thoughts. By extension, there should not be any halachic issue with a man sitting next to a woman on an airplane flight as this also involves public travel.
What if, in fact, the simple act of a man sitting next to a woman does stimulate sexual thoughts? In such rare cases, you can also solve this problem by wearing a sleep mask during the flight or reading a sefer during the flight, thus avoiding the problem of even accidentally making eye contact with the woman seated next to you. Or better yet, buy the seat next to you when making your purchase, which will avoid the problem completely. You certainly don’t have to demand to have your seat changed; there are other solutions to the problem of having impure sexual thoughts.
The other argument that some Orthodox passengers make is that by forcing an Orthodox man to sit next to a woman, you are infringing on his religious freedom … and that this would require an airline to accommodate his religious requirements.
While the First Amendment protects an individual from religious discrimination, airlines are not required to make accommodations that would infringe on the rights of other passengers or disrupt operations. If an airline can facilitate a seat change without inconveniencing others, it may choose to do so voluntarily — but this is certainly not a legal requirement.
Of course, a man may decide to take on a personal chumra and not seat oneself next to a woman. He can decide to buy an extra seat, request a seat change, or take precautions like wearing a sleep mask or focusing his attention on reading a book. What he cannot do is pretend that normative halacha requires a man not to sit next to a woman on an airplane or demand that his seat be changed so as not to infringe on his freedom of religion. And he certainly cannot demand that an airline switch the seat of a female passenger sitting next to him without her consent.
While an Orthodox Jew might feel religiously compelled to request a seat change, such a request is not a “right” in the legal sense, in that it would obligate an airline or other passengers to comply. The best approach is to handle such situations with mutual respect and sensitivity, which would recognize everyone’s rights and preferences.
With that said, I just read about a recent innovation that might partly solve this issue. In order to make female passengers more comfortable and avoid seating them next to a male, IndiGo Airlines will now allow female passengers to view the sex of all passengers who have already reserved a seat so they can choose a seat next to a female passenger if they wish. I wonder why they didn’t provide the same opportunity to male passengers who might want to avoid sitting next to a woman (in fact, this might even open up a potential lawsuit).
Nevertheless, this technology could certainly be adapted by EL AL and other airlines, which would allow men to choose a seat that was not next to a woman and accommodate their religious needs.
It seems like a relatively easy feature for airlines to implement. And yes, why not allow both sexes the opportunity to choose their seats to avoid being next to a member of the opposite sex. There seems to be no downside to doing it that way.
Here’s hoping we won’t be reading about another case of an Orthodox man demanding that his seat be changed — and that common sense prevails on airline flights.
Michael Feldstein, who lives in Stamford, is the author of “Meet Me in the Middle” (meet-me-in-the-middle-book.com), a collection of essays on contemporary Jewish life. He can be reached at [email protected].
