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A New Zealand couple who booked premium economy seats for greater comfort on a long-haul flight say their experience was ruined by being seated next to a “snorting, farting” dog.

Gill and Warren Press related how they boarded their 13-hour Singapore Airlines A380 flight from Paris to Singapore on the way back to New Zealand in June – and were surprised to find a dog travelling with the passenger beside them. The dog was an “emotional support animal”, a category recognised by Singapore Airlines then but not now.

“I heard this noise – a heavy snorting,” Gill Press told New Zealand news outlet Stuff.co.nz.

“I thought it was my husband’s phone, but we looked down and realised it was the dog breathing. I said, ‘I’m not having this sitting next to us the whole trip.’”

When the couple requested a seat change, the cabin crew told them the only seats available were at the back of economy class.

Apart from the snorting, the dog was also farting, the couple say. The smell became intolerable.

Gill Press said the animal was encroaching on her husband’s legroom and was dribbling saliva on his leg. He was wearing shorts.

“[The passenger] couldn’t have the dog out in the aisle because they couldn’t get the trolleys through, so it had to come in further, which meant his head was under my husband’s feet.”

Press said they again spoke to the flight attendant and were finally offered seats in the front of the economy cabin that had earlier been reserved for staff.

The couple said they were assured an incident report had been filed and they would hear from the airline.

But after a week passed, Gill Press emailed the airline’s customer service team to complain.

Two weeks later, the airline emailed back and apologised for the incident, offering each SGD 100 (AUD 115) gift voucher for the airline’s KrisShop website.

Press responded, saying the amount didn’t reflect the difference in value between their premium economy seas and the economy seats they ended up sitting in.

Negotiations between the couple and the airline continue.

“We didn’t receive the experience we paid for,” Gill says.

The dog story was also carried in the Singapore Straits Times, which said that since 1 April 2023, SIA has banned emotional support dogs on its flights “though it is still honouring travel for customers – and their dogs – who had made a request and submitted the required documentation before the date”.

Approved assistance dogs (such as guide dogs for the blind) are still allowed aboard.

Airlines in America were once notorious for allowing pets and livestock to fly with passengers to provide “emotional support”. Many US airlines have stricter rules now.

Although spiders, scorpions, monkeys and reptiles were outlawed as emotional support animals in the US in 2008, passengers have sometimes brought miniature horses and pigs aboard flights.

On one US flight, an emotional support pit bull mauled an adjoining passenger. On another flight, an emotional support pig ran up and down the aisle, squealing and defecating, to the disgust and nausea of other passengers.