Singapore Airlines has been ordered to pay more than £2,040 (INR 213,585) to an Indian couple who said their business class seats were not working properly. New York Post reported. Ravi Gupta, a police chief from Telangana, was flying with his wife on a flight from Hyderabad to Australia, which flew via Singapore. They paid 66,750 rupees (about $800) for each business class seat. Notably, the incident happened in May last year.
The couple complained that the automatic tilt function of their chairs did not work. Instead, the seats could only be adjusted manually, leaving them frustrated during their five-hour journey. When they complained, they were each offered 10,000 frequent flyer miles or loyalty points. However, they declined the offer and sued Singapore Airlines.
In court documents, the Guptas accused Singapore Airlines of making them feel like mere “economy class” passengers, despite paying for spacious business class accommodations. They also said it kept them awake for the entire trip.
Last week, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Telangana ruled in favor of the couple and ordered Singapore Airlines to pay them $2,400 “for causing them mental anguish and physical suffering.”
In a statement to The Independent, Singapore Airlines confirmed the 'faulty' automatic recline function of their seats.
“SIA can confirm that while the automatic tilt function on Mr and Mrs Gupta's seats was faulty, the manual tilt function worked on their flight from Hyderabad to Singapore. There were no problems on their connecting flight from Singapore to Perth,” a spokesperson said The independent.
''The flight duration from Hyderabad to Singapore is usually around four hours. Unfortunately, as it was a full flight, SIA staff were unable to seat the passengers elsewhere in the Business Class cabin. Our team proactively checked in with these customers on a regular basis and offered to manually recline the seat if necessary. We apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Gupta for the inconvenience caused by this mechanical issue,” the statement said.