London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Woman sues easyJet after she was made to move seats because she's female

Woman sues easyJet after she was made to move seats because she's female

'It was the first time in my adult life that I was discriminated against for being a woman.'

A woman is suing easyJet after she was asked to move seats twice when two men refused to sit next to a female passenger.

Melanie Wolfson, who is British-Israeli, is claiming 66,438 shekels (nearly £15,000) compensation from the low-cost airline for her experience on a Tel Aviv to London flight, which she says left her feeling ‘insulted and humiliated’.

She told Haaretz: ‘It was the first time in my adult life that I was discriminated against for being a woman.’

The lawsuit states Ms Wolfson boarded the flight last October and sat in her aisle seat, which she had paid extra for.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man and his son were already in the row, and asked her to trade places with a man sitting a few rows ahead.

She refused their request, as she disagreed with them asking her to move purely because of her gender: ‘I would not have had any problem whatsoever switching seats if it were to allow members of a family or friends to sit together, but the fact that I was being asked to do this because I was a woman was why I refused.’

According to Ms Wolfson, a flight attendant then intervened and offered her a free hot drink as an incentive to move.

Despite her previous refusal, she then became concerned that this would hold up the flight. Feeling as if she didn’t have a choice, she agreed and changed seats.


‘It was the first time in my adult life that I was discriminated against for being a woman.’


‘It was the first time in my adult life that I was discriminated against for being a woman.’

‘What was even more infuriating was that there were passengers watching this happen who said nothing,’ she added.

The suit also mentioned that flight attendants told her that it was common practice in the airline to ask women to switch seats in order to accommodate ultra-Orthodox men.

A month after the flight, Ms Wolfson, who moved to Israel 13 years ago, filed an official complaint with easyJet noting that asking her to move because of her gender was a violation of anti-discrimination laws.

On another flight with the airline, two months later, she again was asked to move seats by two men on the aircraft. Although she refused to move, two women from another row agreed to swap with the men and took their seats.

She stated that in this incident, flight attendants did not intervene or try to defend her right to stay in her seat. After a second complaint made to the airline failed to get a response, Ms Wolfson moved forward with legal action.


Melanie Wolfson says she was asked to move seats on two separate easyJet flights

As well as compensation, she is also asking easyJet bans its cabin crew from asking women to switch seats because of their gender.

Ms Wolfson’s lawsuit has been filed on her behalf by the Israel Religious Action Center. The organisation was successful with a similar case in 2017 brought against El Al, the Israeli national carrier.

In a statement, easyJet said of the situation: ‘We take claims of this nature very seriously.

‘While it would be inappropriate to comment, as this matter is currently the subject of legal proceedings, we do not discriminate on any grounds.’

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
×