On May 21, 2024, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER encountered severe turbulence while enroute from London (LHR) to Singapore (SIN), on flight SQ321. The turbulence was so bad that dozens of people suffered serious injuries, and there was even one fatality (reportedly from a heart attack). The jet diverted to Bangkok (BKK), where many passengers were hospitalized.
A few weeks after the incident, the airline has now revealed how it intends to compensate passengers who were on this flight.
In this post:
How Singapore Airlines is compensating SQ321 passengers
On June 10, 2024, Singapore Airlines sent out compensation offers to the passengers who were on the flight that encountered severe turbulence. In addition to apologizing for the traumatic experience, here’s the offer that Singapore Airlines has made to passengers:
For passengers who sustained minor injuries from the incident, we have offered US$10,000 in compensation.
For those who sustained more serious injuries from the incident, we have invited them to discuss a compensation offer to meet each of their specific circumstances when they feel well and ready to do so. Passengers medically assessed as having sustained serious injuries, requiring long-term medical care, and requesting financial assistance are offered an advance payment of US$25,000 to address their immediate needs. This will be part of the final compensation that these passengers will receive.
In addition to the above, SIA will provide a full refund of the air fare to all passengers travelling on SQ321 on 20 May 2024, including those who did not suffer any injuries. All passengers will also receive delay compensation in accordance with the relevant European Union or United Kingdom regulations.
We provided all passengers with S$1,000 each to meet their immediate expenses upon departure from Bangkok. SIA has also been covering the medical expenses of the injured passengers, and arranged for their family members and loved ones to fly up to Bangkok where requested.
Singapore Airlines has handled this situation very well
I think Singapore Airlines should be commended for how it has handled this situation. For one, the airline has done an amazing job communicating transparently. The company’s CEO published a video message shortly after the incident, and the airline has provided constant updates to the public over the course of the past few weeks.
Many airlines try to sweep situations like this under the rug, while Singapore Airlines has prioritized transparency, and I think that’s great.
As far as the compensation offer to passengers goes, Singapore Airlines’ offer seems fair to me. I guess we don’t know how “minor injuries” are defined, though there’s obviously room to negotiate here, as this is simply an offer.
Compensation in situations like this is regulated by the Montreal Convention, which makes airlines liable for just about all injuries incurred during travel, unless it can be proven that something was due to a passenger’s negligence. With the Montreal Convention, airlines are liable for a maximum compensation of around $175,000 per person.
Now, I’m no lawyer (let alone that familiar with the complexities of international law), so I can’t help but wonder if we might see some lawsuits for emotional distress, etc. Admittedly this wasn’t a flight full of Americans, so…
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines has revealed how it’s compensating passengers who were on the May 21 flight from London to Singapore that encountered severe turbulence. If you ask me, the airline is doing a great job handling this, both in terms of what’s being offered and in terms of communicating transparently.
What do you make of Singapore Airlines’ compensation offer?
Singapore Airlines has one of the best customer care in the airline industry. Never disappoints!
It does seem generous for SQ to come out with this compensation plan. Good on them.
It's just good PR because they know they (Allianz) will have to pay either way.
I’m sure there is plenty of people in the “uninjured” $700 usd category who wish they were in the $10,000 usd “minor injury” category. Maybe their back will start hurting? Noticing some head trauma?
IMO this incentivizes people to exaggerate their injuries.
SQ has established the gold standard for passenger handling in severe IROPs.
Given that this was turbulence-related and might or might not have been avoided - I am not second guessing - they could easily have said it was beyond their control - but they have not.
Good for them. No, Great for them.
I suspect more and more airlines are going to be interrupting service if turbulence is expected.
Maybe SQ knows more about the crew's conduct than they're letting on, and that contributed to their "generosity." Possible that the pilots fouled something up again. Either way there'd probably be lawsuits.
“ I can’t help but wonder if we might see some lawsuits for emotional distress, etc. Admittedly this wasn’t a flight full of Americans, so…”. Hahah so true
Worked on aviation insurance for many years, this is from the carrier not SQ's pockets (except for whatever their current retention threshold is).
Allianz is the underwriter for SIA.
For the Australian woman who is now paralyzed from the waste down I would think that this will be an ongoing conversation
I get that you don't necessarily need the legs anymore but to call it a waste is a bit harsh
@betterbub. LMAO!!!!
Definitely a fair offer but in the era of greed, social media and entitlement, lots of people on that flight won't take that offer
They'd rather sue.
Considering this was hardly SQ’s fault, the offer seems quite generous; that they’ve been as transparent and communicative as they have is also to their benefit.
Especially proactively offering eu compensation. Probably better to mitigate any losses customers incurred.
there is turbulence prediction software and the airspace where this occurred is pretty busy.
whether there were signs that there could have been problems is impossible to know at this point.
SQ did the right thing but whether they were using the best software and cabin procedures might or might not have affected the outcome.
I have no expertise in any related field but there might be some fault to be determined. I did read that this was an area known for severe turbulence and the decisions of pilots and cabin crew do need to be examined.
How would you know that it wasn't their fault? The pilots might have easily made some mistakes by not paying attention to their instruments or circumventing the area properly.
The interesting part would be in the fine print that wasn't disclosed.