United Airlines says it has made coding changes to its website and mobile app to clearly show passengers where ‘windowless window seats’ are located on its airplanes. The updates were made only after a class action lawsuit accused the Chicago-based carrier of duping them into paying extra for a window seat, only to find there was no seat in their row.
On Monday, a California district judge ruled in an opinion order that the class action lawsuit would be allowed to proceed to trial after United attempted to have the case dismissed with prejudice on the grounds that when it sold window seats, it never promised the seat would actually have a window.
The issue with windowless window seats affects several aircraft in the United Airlines fleet, including:
- Row 21 of Premium Plus on the Boeing 767-300ER (76Q) and Boeing 767-400ER
- Row 41 of Economy on the new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
- Row 31 of Economy on certain Airbus A321neo aircraft
- Row 10 of Economy on Boeing 737-700 aircraft
- Row 11 of Economy on Boeing 737-800 aircraft
- Row 11 (ABC) of Economy on Boeing 737-MAX8 aircraft
Windowless window seats are fairly common across airlines, and in most cases, it’s simply because the seats don’t align with the windows running along either side of the fuselage. In some instances, though, aircraft have been designed without a window in certain rows.
This is commonly the case on Boeing 737-800 airplanes at around Row 11.
Aviva Copaken and Marc Brenman, however, claim they were hoodwinked by United into paying extra for an assigned seat, deliberately choosing what they thought was a window seat, only to then find, only after they had boarded, that their row didn’t have a window.
Aviva, who suffers from claustrophobia, paid an additional $169.99 for a guaranteed seat assignment in the hope of getting a window to look out of in order to relieve her symptoms. In a class action lawsuit that was filed last August, Aviva claims United’s website described the seat that he was reserving as being a ‘window seat.’
In an attempt to get the lawsuit quashed before it reached trial, United’s attorneys argued that “the use of the word ‘window’ in reference to a particular seat cannot reasonably be interpreted as a promise that the seat will have an exterior window view.”
“Rather, the word ‘window’ identifies the position of the seat—i.e., next to the wall of the main body of the aircraft,” the filing added.
U.S. District Judge Donato didn’t buy that argument, saying the explanation that United provided was not “well taken” by the court.
While United isn’t willing to comment on the ongoing court proceedings, a spokesperson for the airline told us in an emailed statement: “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.”
European low-cost airline Ryanair has turned its windowless window seats into a marketing gimmick, scouring social media platforms to find any posts from passengers complaining about its infamous Row 11 to call them out with sassy replies.
