Was Singapore Airlines Liable for Business-Class Seats Sold at Economy Rates?

• Main Author: GOH, Yihan
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: Singapore Airlines; contract law; tickets; Asian Studies; Contracts; Law; Transportation Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1501; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/3453/viewcontent/20141209_Goh_Yihan_Was_Singapore_Airlines_Liable_for_Business_Class_Seats_Sold_at_Economy_Rates.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Much has been reported about Singapore Airlines (“SIA”) mistakenly charging economy rates for around 900 business-class seats due to a computer input error. Yesterday, SIA said that it would honour those tickets at economy rates, reversing its previous position that it would not, and closing the episode on a note of goodwill. This blog entry explores the legal analysis behind the episode on the assumption that Singapore contract law applies, so as to maintain its general relevance to a Singaporean audience and its specific application to online retailers concerned about making similar pricing errors. Of course, the analysis would differ if some other foreign law or international convention governed the fact pattern. The discussion below is also based on publicly available facts, which may not be wholly complete.