Passengers awarded thousands for ‘mental agony’ of ‘malfunctioning’ business class plane seats that wouldn’t recline

Alex Mitchell
·2 min read
A passenger and his wife sued Singapore Airlines over high end seats that had to be reclined manually.
A passenger and his wife sued Singapore Airlines over high end seats that had to be reclined manually.

First-world, first-class problems.

A high-ranking member of India’s police brass and his wife won more than $2,000 in court because their lavish Singapore Airlines business-class seats would only manually recline and not do so automatically.

News reports cited the “mental agony and physical suffering” endured by the passengers, Ravi Gupta, a local Director General of Police, and his wife Anjali, during their under-five-hour trip from Hyderabad, India, to Singapore in May 2023.

Singapore Airlines had to pay up after a customer took them to court over their lavish but “malfunctioning” business seats. AFP via Getty Images
Singapore Airlines had to pay up after a customer took them to court over their lavish but “malfunctioning” business seats. AFP via Getty Images

Gupta and his wife, who had a layover in Singapore on their way to Perth, Australia, didn’t hold back about the “malfunctioning” seats in legal documents.

They wrote of the devastation that came with feelings of being relegated to the treatment of “economy class passengers” — sans the spacious extra legroom — per the Deccan Chronicle.

In a statement to The Independent, Singapore Airlines did confirm the “faulty” automatic recline ability in their seats — and how airline workers waited on the Guptas hand and foot over the issue.

Gupta described physical and mental anguish from the “malfunctioning” seats in court papers. Facebook/Telangana State Police
Gupta described physical and mental anguish from the “malfunctioning” seats in court papers. Facebook/Telangana State Police

“Our crew proactively checked in on these customers regularly and offered to manually recline the seat when needed,” the spokesperson said.

“As it was a full flight, SIA staff unfortunately could not reseat the customers elsewhere in the Business Class cabin.”

The airline rep also noted that “there were no issues” on their connecting flight to the land down under.

Airline attendees were reportedly waiting meticulously on the Guptas during the flight. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Airline attendees were reportedly waiting meticulously on the Guptas during the flight. NurPhoto via Getty Images

Gupta and his wife paid roughly the equivalent of $800US per seat and were awarded $2,400 in court at the end of April.

They declined a previous offer of 10,000 frequent flyer miles.

Last year, a passenger sued Emirates for $3,300 over a broken seat recliner and general untidiness.

The 20-year-old flyer called his business class seat “grubby” and “absolutely disgusting” after paying $2,166 for his ticket from Oslo to Dubai.