United, Delta face federal class-action over window seats

Two major U.S. airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, are facing separate federal class-action lawsuits accusing them of selling “window seats” that do not actually have a window. The complaints, filed in San Francisco and Brooklyn, claim that customers paid premium fees for seats marketed as windows only to discover a blank cabin wall, effectively rendering the advertised feature nonexistent.

The lawsuits were filed by the law firm Greenbaum Olbrantz LLP on behalf of passengers who say they bought window seats believing they would have a view, but were seated next to a wall due to the aircrafts’ interior design. The United case, brought in the Northern District of California, and the Delta case, filed in the Eastern District of New York, seek damages and relief for potentially more than a million affected travelers. The complaints argue that these seats are marketed and priced as window seats, but the actual configuration—often caused by the placement of air conditioning ducts, electrical conduits, or similar interior components—means there is no window beside the seat.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have stressed that some seats marketed as windows are not flagged as...