Singapore Airlines has been ordered to pay an Indian couple more than £2,040 (INR 213,585) for “mental anguish” because their business class seats did not recline on a flight from India to Singapore.
Anjali and Ravi Gupta’s seats malfunctioned and did not recline, keeping them awake throughout their 4 hours and 50 minutes journey from Hyderabad to Singapore. India today reported.
The couple had paid about £638 (INR 66,750) for each ticket from India to Australia with a stopover in Singapore, about £460 (INR 48,750) more than an equivalent economy class ticket costing £172 (INR 18,000).
The Guptas were reportedly offered 10,000 Kris Flyer miles per person in exchange for the inconvenience they caused, but they declined. Kris Flyer miles are frequent flyer miles or loyalty points earned by members of Singapore Airlines’ frequent flyer program.
Mr Gupta is the Director General of Police in the southern Indian state of Telangana.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Hyderabad, Telangana, ruled in Gupta’s favour and ordered the airline to reimburse each plaintiff £460 (48,750 Indian rupees) – a total of £931 (97,500 Indian rupees) – plus 12 per cent interest from May 23, 2023, until the date of recovery.
The airline was also ordered to pay £955 (INR 100,000) for the mental and physical distress caused to the Guptas and £94 (INR 10,000) to cover costs related to the complaint.
Mr Gupta alleged in his complaint that he and his wife were treated like “economy class passengers”, apart from the extra legroom. Deccan Chronicle.
Singapore Airlines stated that it “accepts the decision of the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of Hyderabad”.
“SIA can confirm that while the automatic reclining function on Mr and Mrs Gupta’s seats was faulty, the manual reclining function worked on their flight from Hyderabad to Singapore,” a spokesperson told The Independent. “There were no issues on their connecting flight from Singapore to Perth.”
“The flight duration from Hyderabad to Singapore is normally around four hours. Unfortunately, as the flight was fully booked, SIA staff were unable to accommodate the customers elsewhere in Business Class. Our crew has been proactively checking on these customers on a regular basis and offering to manually recline the seat if required. We apologize to Mr and Mrs Gupta for the inconvenience caused by this mechanical issue.”
