Lovers of sweeping views and natural light were vindicated on Monday when a federal judge rejected United Airlines’s request to dismiss a lawsuit regarding window seats that do not, in fact, have windows.
Passengers first filed proposed class action lawsuits against United Airlines and Delta in August 2025, claiming they had paid additional fees to select “window” seats, only to be met with blank cabin walls upon boarding. The ongoing Delta suit was filed in Brooklyn, while United is making its case in San Francisco courts.
The complainants argue that when charging a premium for seat selection, airlines should disclose when aircraft have window seating lacking windows.
In aircraft that includes Boeing 737s, 757s, and Airbus A321s, some seats labeled as window seats are adjacent to plain fuselage panels that contain structural reinforcements, ducting, or wiring. Because the issue is with aircraft configuration, many windowless seats exist across the industry. Alaska Airlines even released an explainer on the issue in 2019, along with a guide revealing the specific window seats on its aircraft that have blank walls.
Across the industry, seat-selection fees range from around $15 to well over $50 per flight, depending on the airline, flight length, and cabin class.
U.S. District Judge James Donato rejected United’s argument that “window” refers to a seat’s position in the cabin relative to the wall of the aircraft.
“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,” Donato said in the court filing, according to a report from ABC News. “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.”
When reached for comment, United’s media relations team declined to address the litigation, but it did point to changes that were made to its seat selection process in 2025. “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,” the Chicago-based airline said in a statement to Afar.
Social media is full of distraught passengers airing their windowless woes. Even CBS News anchor Gayle King took to Instagram in January to call out United for the blank wall next to her business-class seat. “I always like the window seat,” People reported she said in a since-deleted clip. “So I sit down and I go, ‘Oh great, let’s look out the window’ . . . there is no window. What’s a girl to do?. . . It’s going to be a long ride.”
Many passengers prefer the window seat for reasons beyond enjoying landscapes from the sky. Controlling the amount of natural light can make a huge difference to one’s in-flight experience. Plus, looking out the window can relieve motion sickness for some travelers. And while statistically no particular seat is safer than another, whether shades are open or closed can be a factor in emergency response.
To avoid ending up with a windowless flight of your own, carefully check your plane’s seat map and notes before making selections. Online tools like SeatMaps and AeroLOPA also provide detailed layouts and passenger reviews for hundreds of aircraft. The tools even have immersive, panoramic views for some of the most popular flights, allowing you to see exactly where you’ll be fluffing up the neck pillow and firing up a movie marathon.
