Two airlines sued for selling 'window seats' without windows

Two of America's top airlines, United and Delta Airlines, are facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly selling window seats that don't have windows.

On Tuesday, August 19, the law firm Greenbaum Olbrantz LLP (GO Law) filed separate lawsuits against United and Delta in the Northern District of California and the Eastern District of New York.

“When customers purchase a window seat on United or Delta, they have a reasonable expectation that it will have a window,” Carter Greenbaum, an attorney at GO Law, told People . “However, for years, United and Delta have sold seats that they describe as ‘window seats,’ only to leave customers disappointed when they see a blank wall.”

“Meanwhile, many of United and Delta’s competitors tell customers that wall seats ‘don’t have a window view,’” he added. “United and Delta could easily do the same, but they choose to charge extra for a window seat, THEN they end up sitting customers next to a wall.”

According to the complaint, the airlines’ Boeing 737 and Airbus A321 aircraft are designed with seats that would traditionally have windows but lack them due to air conditioning ducts, electrical conduits, or other interior components. Because the company operates hundreds of these planes multiple times a day, “United may have sold more than a million ‘window’ seats that do not have windows.”

The experience of sitting in a window seat without a window is nothing new. Social media users have been documenting their displeasure for years.

The lawsuit, first reported by Top Class Actions , encourages California residents who have paid extra for windowless “window” seats on United flights over the past four years to join the cause.

Neither US airline has commented on the lawsuit.