Singapore Airlines was ordered to pay the equivalent of $2,400 to a couple who claimed they suffered “mental agony” after having to deal with business class seats that failed to recline.
Ravi Gupta, a local Director General of Police in Telangana in India, was flying with his wife to Perth Airport (PER) via Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) in May 2023. They discovered that the business class seats assigned to them were not working properly on the first leg of their journey between Hyderabad International Airport (HYD) and SIN.
The flight was full so the couple could not be reassigned to other seats. Cabin crew offered to manually recline the seats, checking in on them every now and then throughout the flight.
However, the couple claimed they felt like economy class passengers and that left them in “mental agony” during the four-hour and 50 minute flight.
“SIA can confirm that while the automatic recline function on Mr and Mrs Gupta’s seats was faulty, the manual recline function was working on their flight from Hyderabad to Singapore,” a spokesperson for the airline confirmed to multiple media outlets.
“Our crew proactively checked in on these customers regularly and offered to manually recline the seat when needed,” the spokesperson added.
The airline initially offered 10,000 frequent flier miles per passenger as compensation, which the Guptas refused.
The couple then took the matter to court in India, where the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Hyderabad ruled in favor of the Guptas. Singapore Airlines was ordered to refund INR 48,750 ($570) to each passenger, plus 12% interest. Additionally, the airline was required to pay $1193 for the “mental and physical distress” caused to the Guptas, along with $119 to cover expenses.
This is not the first case where a business class passenger has taken an airline to court over seats. In May 2023, an Emirates business class passenger pursued a legal battle against the Middle East carrier for misleading advertisement over its B777 business class seats which did not meet his expectations during the flight.