A federal judge in the US has refused to dismiss a class-action lawsuit against United Airlines, which accuses the carrier of misrepresenting its 'window seats' as having outside views. The airline had argued that the term 'window seat' referred only to a seat's position, not a guaranteed outside view.
However, Judge James Donato in San Francisco rejected this claim, saying that United's own ticketing terms and boarding passes promised window seats with an outside view to customers who paid extra for them. The lawsuit also names Delta Air Lines, which is working to get the suit dismissed.
The passengers filed their proposed class-action lawsuits in August 2025, alleging that they were misled by the airlines into paying more for seats without windows. United Airlines has declined to comment on the suit, while a Delta spokesperson said the airline would not comment on pending litigation.
According to court documents, United argued that it never promised 'window' seats would come with an outside view. However, this argument was rejected by Judge Donato, who stated that consumers have reasonable expectations when booking flights and should be able to rely on airline promises.