Assalamu Alaikum, I am Indian by nationality and staying here in the Middle East. For the past 18 years or so, I have never travelled to my country for any reason alone and it has always been with my husband and/or son.
However, I wish to go visit my parents now in India and it's a 4-hour journey by plane. My husband will drop me at the airport, In Sha Allah and I will be picked up at the airport in India by my dad. This is the plan while coming back also. So am I permitted to travel alone, as I will be 'alone' in the airport and on the flight and so on...?
Please clarify. I particularly would like to know more about this as in this day and age, females are required to or do choose to travel for work and so on, so how does the fatwa of females not travelling without a mahram workjQuery111006954212518467742_1579595579961
Jazakumullahu Khairan

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Most scholars hold that it is impermissible for a woman – in the absence of necessity – to travel unescorted by a Mahram (permanently unmarriageable) man, regardless of whether the journey is long or short. This is because the Prophet forbade women from traveling a distance of one day and night without a Mahram, and this is the preponderant opinion in Islamweb.

Some scholars, however, provided a concession for a woman to travel unescorted by a Mahram man as long as she is travelling in safe company.

The Fatwa of Shaykh Ibn Jibreen in this regard reads:

What is forbidden is for a woman to travel alone for a distance of a day and night. If the distance is less than that, whether she is travelling by airplane, train, or car, then it is not included in the prohibition. This is because what is forbidden is for a woman to ride a camel or the like of mounts and travel a long path in the desert for several days during which she may encounter bandits and immoral people (i.e. who may try to rape her), and to be gone for long. However, travelling in a car in the company of trustworthy women for five or ten hours on a road that is trodden by many travelers, and she is not alone with a non-Mahram (marriageable) man, and whenever she arrives at her destination where she works, she would stay in a suitable accommodation in the company of religiously committed women, then there is no religious violation in that because they are usually safe from corrupt people, and this is not considered prohibited travel... [End of Quote]

Therefore, whenever it is possible for your husband or any Mahram man to accompany you, it would be better and more prudent in terms of clearing yourself of liability from the obligation. If there is a need to travel alone, then there is nothing wrong with opting for the easiest of the scholarly opinions that carry considerable weight, as underlined by Muslim scholars. As-Subki said in his book, Al-Ashbaah wa An-Nathaa’ir: “It is permissible for the person lacking religious knowledge to imitate a scholar and avail himself of the legal concessions that they grant in case of a dire need without deliberately looking for the legal concessions of the different scholars on a regular basis. It is this aspect that makes it correct to say that the difference (of opinion among scholars) is a source of mercy because the legal concessions are a source of mercy for Muslims.” [End of Quote]

Allah Knows best.