Judge allows suit over airline window seats without a window to proceed

A California judge denied United Airlines' request to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed against the airline last year by a passenger alleging that the airline knowingly charged them extra for a window seat that didn’t actually have a window. 

United defines a window seat to mean a location relative to the aisle and not a literal seat next to a window, according to the court filing.

However the judge said the passenger’s claims are plausible as the airline's booking page and boarding pass identify the seats as window seats, and United’s contract of carriage incorporates the “terms and conditions printed on or in any ticket.” 

“These terms plausibly establish that United expressly agreed to provide a seat with a window to passengers who paid for one. The ticket that entitles the passenger to fly on United is a boarding pass that expressly states a window seat was purchased,” Judge James Donato said in the court filing. “The reservation screen used to buy the ticket made unequivocal representations “at the time of booking” that United would provide a window seat. No more is needed at this stage for the breach claims to go forward.” 

United Airlines did not have a comment on the lawsuit but said, “As part of our regular review of united.com and the United App to enhance the customer experience, in 2025 we added more detail to our seat selection process, so customers can have more information about what to expect when they choose a seat.” 

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A similar lawsuit was filed last year in New York by another passenger against Delta Air Lines. 

Both complaints say that the airlines fly aircraft like Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s and Airbus A321s where the seats would generally have a window but due to the design and the placement of air conditioning ducts, electrical conduits or other parts, a window cannot be installed.

The complaints also mentioned that some carriers like American and Alaska Airlines did inform customers of the “windowless window seats, but Delta and United did not.