In August 2025, two nearly identical lawsuits were filed: one against United (in San Francisco federal court) and one against Delta Air Lines (in Brooklyn federal court). They claim that each airline sold more than one million “window seats” on aircraft such as the Boeing 737, Boeing 757, and Airbus A321, many of which are next to blank fuselage walls rather than windows.
Passengers say they paid seat-selection fees (commonly $30 to $100+) expecting a view, sunlight, or the comfort of a genuine window seat — and say they would not have booked or paid extra had they known the seat lacked a window.
As reported by Reuters, United’s filing argues that it never promised a view when it used the label “window” for a seat. According to the airline, “window” refers only to the seat’s location next to the aircraft wall, not a guarantee of an exterior view.
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Are their no small claims tribunals in the US? This refund would be over so quickly in Australia and no doubt the ACCC would be on their arse.
We barely do anything about monopolies here these these days, but at least false advertising and right to refunds are rock solid.
Also, those seat selection fees are crazy. International flights I’ve seen like $8, maybe $15 if you’re getting really crazy.
Who in the world is paying $100 to select their seat?
There are small claims courts in the US.
Its a pain in the ass and you can’t get extra damages or anything like that. So the most people would be entitled to was the 30-100 bucks they overpaid for their seat. It would also require each claimant to spend hours of their life preparing and doing it.
So instead they do class action, so it can all be on trial and anyone in the class can apply for a refund quickly if they win.
As soon as you can have a president tell people news is fake because he doesn’t like it, words have no meaning and this is the result of interpretation in an authoritarian environment. The customer or end user has no recourse and there’s is no loyalty or trust with the brand.
I agree with the sentiment but this definitely didn’t begin with Dump. We’ve been getting increasingly fucked by corpos for decades, Cheeto is just the most recent.
It’s the most blatant bullshit, not just the most recent. It’s past the point where it should be believable. Passing it off as “just the most recent” feels very both sides to me but maybe that’s just how I’m reading it.
Yeah, but Democrats were at least doing things like creating the Consumer Protection Bureau (which Trump has since killed)
So, basically they’re trying to get us ready for these standing seats.
The regulatory requirements to make standing airline seats possible have not been met in either Europe or North America, and they’re unlikely to ever be satisfied—unless government oversight finally becomes so corrupt and useless that this concept is forced through.
Under this administration?
unless government oversight finally becomes so corrupt and useless that this concept is forced through.
So next week, you’re saying?
Standing is a historical torture method.
Must we now also pay for the privilege?
Sweet, I have chronic pain in my foot and back and will likely have to fly several times a year again. I likely can’t use these seats. So many people can’t use these. I feel so bad for the elderly they’ll try to strap in these.
If they made the windows really small but gave me good movies to watch, I’d watch the movie lol. Those windows must cost a fortune to carry around from place to place. Just remove the windows and replace them with a phone holder. For those of us who love watching around the window, why not provide a 40 MP camera that we can all hookup to via Bluetooth? We can take cool videos outside the plane. Maybe even pictures we never through about like a stabilized camera on the wing tip that takes video or photos of all the win…plane fuselage so you can tell your friends which part of the plane you were sitting at?
the windows are also a safety feature. Passengers screaming “the wing is on fire!” is genuinely par of their remit
Ooh, shit, so only the few who are akshully on the window would scream. Got it.
why do people even use this company? I dont think i have ever read anything positive about it.
Unfortunately United’s the only affordable choice for a fair number of destinations
They break guitars, for one. That’s literally their company policy.
What’s beside the aisle seats? Could it perchance be aisle on every single one? Hmm.
Ha ha ha.
Window seat?? No no, we said widow seat.
They’d be right if that’s how people referred to the outer seats, but it’s not. It’s not like “boneless chicken wings” where you know it’s not an actual deboned chicken wing. There is no question that people say window seat to mean a seat next to a window and not the opposite of an aisle seat.
wait what? What’s a boneless chicken wing then?
(Don’t think I’ve ever heard that phrase but I’d assume it’s a chicken wing with the bones removed)
They’re just chicken fingers
Yeah I tired these for the first time a while ago and was kinda disappointed in getting a bag of relabeled chicken nuggets.
Boneless wings are breast meat that has been shaped to look like bone-in meat. That’s why it’s called a boneless wing, not because it’s literally a deboned wing.
Edit: clarified the shape
shaped to look like a bone
I hope you mean wing otherwise that makes even less sense to me
Yes, shaped to look like bone-in meat I meant.
He is slightly wrong there, instead of chicken meat it’s actually an amalgamation of various rodent meats.
Wouldn’t that be the definition of, “Bait and switch”??? Which is already illegal?
You PAY EXTRA for a WINDOW SEAT and there’s no window?! Why would someone pay more then? What would be the point of paying more if there’s no “window” seems very cut and dry! That’s like paying extra for an aisle seat and get a middle seat, that’s NEVER in question, they are just trying to get people’s money! Savages!
This just proves don’t fly United nor Delta… which they are already super high priced anyways…
The main reason I like window seats isn’t because of the window, it’s because I can fall into deep sleep and nobody will wake me up because they need to get out and pee.
So jealous of being able to sleep on the plane…
Try drinking more
I took edibles before flying once. Slept across the Atlantic and then a bit more on the connecting flight.
Don’t do this. Then you’ll have to pee and be stuck in your windowless seat.
Small price to pay for sweet sweet airplane sleep.
Don’t pee in your dreams.
- United
Lol yeah little counterproductive in the long run
Well, yeah, that’s what the controversy is. They’re saying “window seat” implies sitting in the opposite of the aisle, not necessarily having a window. (Which is BS. People take it to mean window.) So they’re saying it’s not a bait and switch.
“War is peace”
That’s what they are trying to pull. Look it up.
According to the airline, “window” refers only to the seat’s location next to the aircraft wall
Then call it “wall seat”
It’s like trying to call the non runway parts of airports ramps, aprons and taxiways. Because technically none of it is made with tarmac anymore but the general population is too stupid to go back so now that’s what it’s all called.
I don’t think the public would be confused if they called the windowless seat a wall seat and made attempts to clarify. They could even warn the buyer when they select the seat.
I don’t understand your gripe here. What’s wrong with those terms?
Exactly!
The agreement was im paying 355 dolars for a window seat. If ‘window seat’ just refers to the location, then dolars just refers to the fact its an amount of currency, and ill have my bank adjust the payment to reflect that was in pesos.
By dollars, I mean Zimbabwe dollars
Cool. So since the government is going to side with this bullshit: I say that “income tax” doesn’t mean a tax on my income.
This scam already exists. That’s why Jeff Bezos pays a much lower rate on what is - bullshit aside - his income.
Since I don’t technically ‘come’ ‘inside’, so I won’t pay it
Avoiding being forced to buy a minivan, I see. Clever you. 🤌🏼
Sprinter or a Transit. Not a minivan. Full sized van. Heck an Econoline 1500 or similar conversion vans would work if they still made conversion vans.
In any case if you’re on a flight longer than a couple hours you’re not allowed to open them anyway, they make you keep em shut so people can nap 🙈 But it’s fun to look out for the takeoff and landing. But the planes that tint the windows are the best.
Nah you’re still allowed to open them to smoke
Nah you’re still allowed to open them to smoke
What? No they don’t.
It really depends on the airline and the time of day at the destination.
I mean I guess if you’re in the air at night then yeah you can open them. My last few flights were long haul going west during the day, so the sun never goes down, and people sleep the whole way.
If the seat doesn’t include a window then it needs to be called a wall seat. This is an open and shut case of false advertising.
They’ll try and argue that it’s just the generic term that is most familiar to their customers, not a specific definition of what you will find if you take that seat. “Aisle” “middle” and “window” are just commonly-accepted shorthand for the first, second, and third seats in a row, not prescriptive definitions.
Source: I once worked for a Extended Warranty company and they do the exact same crap. The product they sold is a service contract, it has nothing whatsoever to do with actually extending your existing warranty. But they were allowed to keep calling it an “extended warranty” and use that term predominantly and market off it, because that is the term that is in common usage for the product they sell. All they had to do was add tiny text at the bottom of the site that said “A service contract is often referred to as an “extended car warranty,” but it is not a warranty.” 🤣🤣🤣 At worst, the airlines will have to do something like that.
Or at least put a monitor running Microsoft.
No, I already get nauseous traveling.
At one point in my career, they moved us to a long white room with no windows. (The reason this particular room on this floor did not have windows was that on the wall, where the windows normally would have been were large external letters on the outside of the building spelling out the original name of the building. So of course you couldn’t have windows behind the externally mounted letters.) And their attempt at making it bearable was to put giant vinyl stickers of somewhat cartoonish window scenes along the big long outside white wall. I did not enjoy working in that space.
At least they tried
ah yes the fresh taste of that (checks notes) vinyl sticker air
Ah polyvinyl chloride - reminds me of my childhood days playing in a freshly blown up paddling pool.
Yeah, lets stare at a blue screen for five hours because the screensaver coded in Electron crashed minutes after takeoff.
It is a seat that is closest to the windows for the row. This is an open and shut case of common fucking sense
Some people are claustrophobic and having a window to look out makes a ton of difference. A middle seat isn’t an option they can handle and while an aisle seat is preferred, a window seat is tolerable provided it actually has a window. Personally I don’t care but knowing someone that is quite claustrophobic, this would be a big deal for them.
Would you have the same opinion it if they didn’t include a seat either? Since there are two words at play here and we’re apparently making gross allowances for meaning in one could we do the other? Would it be acceptable if they placed you near the area with a seat?
"Seat” refers only to the location allocated near to a row of seats, not a guarantee of actual place to sit.
What kind of legal linguistic creep are we going to tolerate under this heading of “common fucking sense”?
I promise the airlines don’t need you defending them on lemmy.
Not defending them, and don’t care. There are a bunch of self righteous people on here who think they’re coming up with a profound statement when it’s just common sense they need.
Every window used to have a window. Then airlines decided to cram more seats inside without adjusting the number of windows. Common sense says you change the fucking name of the thing you’re selling, because of course people are going to continue thinking of what used to be true as the reason, not some hamdisted attempt to argue your way out of liability for your lies.
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That isn’t what the name implies. Way to move goalposts. You should work for united.
If they had marked which particular seats didn’t have actual windows, it’d likely be fine to keep the terminology.
I know you are getting downvoted, but I call the seat furthest from the aisle the “window” seat no matter what is on the “far” side of it.
So, I think it’s entirely possible that United wins this case in front of a judge. If it gets decided by a jury, I’d expect at least one person of the 12 (or so) to insist that “window seat” means there has to be a window.
