SIA ordered to pay $3,580 to couple who filed complaint after their recliner seats failed to work

HYDERABAD - Singapore Airlines (SIA) has been ordered to pay two of its passengers 200,000 rupees (S$3,300) plus other costs after they filed a complaint concerning recliner seats on a flight from Hyderabad to Australia.

Mr Ravi Gupta, the director-general of police in India's Telengana state, was travelling with his wife on May 23, 2023, in business class, but found that their seats could not recline electronically.

Mr Ravi said the malfunction caused them inconvenience, and he had to stay awake throughout the almost 14-hour flight despite paying 133,500 rupees in total for the plane tickets, reported the Indian news outlet Deccan Chronicle.

He made a complaint to the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-III in Hyderabad, which ordered Singapore Airlines to return 97,500 rupees to the couple, along with an interest charge of 12 per cent from the date of complaint.

Additionally, the airline would also have to bear the cost of 100,000 rupees for the duo's "mental agony and physical suffering", along with paying 10,000 rupees to cover the cost for the complaint.

The total sum amounts to around S$3,580.

The airline had offered the couple 10,000 KrisFlyer miles each, but they declined the offer.

They had purchased Business Z class seats. These come at a discounted rate and are non-refundable.

The seats in business class are supposed to be able to recline automatically via electronic buttons.

In their complaint, the couple claimed that they felt as if they were economy class passengers, except they had extra leg room, reported the Deccan Chronicle.

In a statement to The Straits Times, SIA acknowledged the decision of the commission.

"SIA can confirm that while the automatic recline function on Mr and Mrs Gupta's