Delta, United Allegedly Sold Windowless Seat Tickets Without Flagging Them

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines could be facing class action lawsuits after passengers alleged they were charged premium prices for window seats that had no actual windows. The suits claim more than a million customers spent millions of dollars just to find themselves staring at blank interior walls for hours.

The complaints target seat configurations on Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s, and Airbus A321s. These aircraft sometimes omit windows where less attractive things like ducting or wiring need to go, leaving certain rows with frames covered by solid panels. According to the filings, Delta and United failed to disclose which of their “window” seats fell into this category, even while charging more for them. Rivals like Alaska and American Airlines, on the other hand, indicate whether a window seat is missing its key feature on their websites.

The lawsuits argue that window seats aren’t just about scenery. Passengers buy them for reasons that range from easing fear of flying and motion sickness to entertaining restless children, or simply wanting natural light. By not disclosing the absence of windows, the airlines allegedly deprived customers of the choice they thought they were paying for.

"Had plaintiffs and the class members known that the seats they were purchasing (were) windowless, they would not have selected them — much less have paid extra," read the complaint against United, though the Delta complaint sounded nearly identical.

It is unlikely that the carrier’s failure to flag windowless seats was unintentional. Both carriers rely heavily on ancillary revenue streams such as baggage fees, seat selection charges, and cabin upgrades to supplement ‘cheaper’ base ticket sales. Disclosing which window seats are lacking a view would mean charging less, and therefore making less.

Even without flagged seats, passengers can use tools like SeatGuru to identify rows missing windows. Still, plaintiff attorney Carter Greenbaum argues that the responsibility falls on the airlines, not third-party websites. "A company can't misrepresent the nature of the products it sells and then rely on third party reviews to say a customer should have known that it was lying,” he said.

FMI: www.united.com