Judge Rejects United Motion to Dismiss Window Seat Lawsuit

A U.S. district judge in San Francisco rejected United Airlines' motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the carrier charged passengers extra for seats without windows. The ruling on Monday allows the case to move forward.

The civil cases against United and Delta were both filed in August 2025. They claim the airlines sold premium window seats without clearly disclosing that some lacked physical windows due to aircraft design features such as air conditioning ducts and emergency equipment. Aviva Copaken, a plaintiff in the United suit, said she paid up to $170 for seats that had no window.

Another plaintiff, Marc Brenman, received a refund of 7,500 MileagePlus miles after complaining. United later refunded Copaken's seat fee. United argued in its November motion that a window seat refers only to a position next to the aircraft wall, not one that guarantees an external view.

Its contract of carriage does not define the term as providing a view, and refunds are generally required only when a passenger is downgraded. United has since updated its booking process to show when a selected seat lacks a window. The airline told Business Insider it had nothing further to share about the lawsuit.

Delta's motion to dismiss, filed in Brooklyn, is still pending, and the airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Similar windowless seats appear on aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Iberia, and Ryanair. They often occur near exit rows or at the rear of the cabin on Airbus A320, Boeing 737, and Boeing 757 families.