Women, Children Only, Please

In a bow to Arab tradition, British Airways said it will let women and children travel separately from unattached men on its Saudi Arabian flights.

The carrier said it plans to set up a “segregated” cabin behind the business-class section of its Boeing 767s, which make 15 flights weekly between London and three Saudi cities: Dhahran, Jiddah and Riyadh.

British Airways said the 54-seat, no-smoking “Family Cabin” will be offered “to women traveling alone or with their children, with only their male relatives permitted to travel with them.”

“Men traveling alone or in groups will be seated elsewhere,” British Airways said.

“The theory behind it is to fit in with Arab culture,” said a British Airways spokesman. “They have quite strict cultural views about who should sit next to who.”