Airline Passengers Awarded Thousands for ‘Mental Agony’ of Non-Reclining Seats
Singapore Airlines a married couple thousands of dollars for “mental agony and physical suffering” after their business class seats refused to recline.
Singapore Airlines has paid thousands of dollars to an Indian policeman and his wife for “mental agony and physical suffering” after their luxurious business class seats failed to recline, according to The Independent.
Ravi Gupta, who serves as a Director General of Police in Telangana, and his wife, Anjali, decided to sue Singapore Airlines after their travel pods failed to automatically recline on the nearly five-hour journey from Hyderabad, India, to Singapore in May 2023. Instead, the seats could only be manually reclined, much to the chagrin of the couple, who were on their way to Perth, Australia to enjoy a vacation.
In court documents, the Guptas accused Singapore Airlines of making them feel like lowly “economy-class passengers” despite them paying for spacious business class accommodation. The couple had paid about $800 per seat, nearly $600 more than economy tickets, which run roughly $215.
Singapore Airlines offered the couple 10,000 frequent flier miles; but the Guptas refused the settlement, convinced they could hold out for the preferable deal they ultimately struck.
Last week, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Telangana, Mr. Gupta’s town of employment, ruled in the couple’s favor and ordered Singapore Airlines. The company was ordered to pay them $2,400 for the complaint, including interest, court fees, and “for causing the Guptas mental agony and physical suffering.”
Singapore Airlines confirmed the ruling to The Independent in a statement, saying 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. There were no issues on their connecting flight from Singapore to Perth,” the airline added.
The company added that, while it was a full flight and moving the Guptas was not possible, flight crew “proactively checked in on these customers regularly and offered to manually recline the seat when needed. We apologize to Mr and Mrs Gupta for the inconvenience caused by this mechanical issue.”
The ruling is the latest in a string of similar lawsuits. Last year, The Daily Mail reported that an Emirates passenger sued the airline because his seat was “grubby [and] absolutely disgusting” and wouldn’t recline. He was ultimately awarded $5,000. That’s significantly less than the $12,600 a New Zealand surgeon was paid after he sued Emirates last year, claiming the itinerary he and his wife endured was nothing like the luxury experience advertised.