There’s a new class action lawsuit against United Airlines for selling window seats without windows. Surprisingly, United actually does this.

The airline sells some seats next to the fuselage that don’t have windows beside them, and customers are paying seat assignmnet fees expecting to look out the window but they can only look at the interior wall of the cabin.

You might think ‘but window seat is just nomenclature’ and doesn’t promise a window beside it but that is not true.

• an aisle seat is next to the aisle and has another passenger on only one side of you.
  
• a middle seat is between two seats, so there’s a passenger potentially on both sides of you.
  
• a window seat is next to the cabin wall, so there’s a passenger on just one side of you, and you’re furthest from the aisle so there are more passengers to climb over to get to the lavatory.

But a window seat on United Airlines actually does promise a window! They promote it during the booking path as part of the upsell!

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And for a variety of reasons not every seat beside the cabin wall has a window to look out of. Most famously, on most Boeing 737s seat 11A is advertised as having a window but doesn’t. Honestly though this is more commonly an issue with American Airlines, with misaligned windows after a number of densification projects to cram in more seats, than with United.

The class action against United is limited to:

• California residents
  
• Who paid extra for a window seat on United within the past four years (no free seat assignments for elites here)
  
• And the window seat didn’t have a window.

The lack of windows at window seats happens because of structural elements in the fuselage (where cutting a window would weaken the airframe) and because airlines change row spacing so that seats wind up next to solid wall between windows.

There seems like a pretty simple solution here: just flag on the seat map that there’s no window. state that there isn’t actually a window there. Aerolopa shows window placement on the United 737-800:

Now, this is a California suit for a reason:

• California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law have broader definitions of deceptive practices than many other states. THe False Advertising Law there can be paired with unfair competition claims.

• California courts and juries are generally seen as more receptive to consumer claims, especially in cases alleging misleading marketing.

• California courts do not follow the Federal Arbitration Act the same way federal courts do when it comes to enforcing class action waivers in adhesion contracts. The McGill rule (McGill v. Citibank, 2 Cal.5th 945 (2017)) treats agreements waiving the right to seek public injunctive relief as unenforceable. (Limiting the suit to California residents is an attempt to keep the case in state court and avoid dismissal from arbitration clauses and class-action waivers.)

• The Airline Deregulation Act pre-empts state laws “related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.” And seat prices are at issue here. Plaintiffs will argue that the deception is about the physical attribute of the seat—a misrepresentation of a product feature—rather than the price or service of the airline.

I do wonder, though, whether similar thinking could be applied to when flight attendants require windows down on a long haul flight? Since you were sold a window seat and then denied use of the product you purchased? Or what about where another passenger prevents you from using the window you purchased?

United could turn the disclosures about lack of window at the window seat into a revenue opportunity, so maybe this class action is a blessing in disguise. Call it “Basic Window” – it becomes part of how they compete against low cost carriers by making the product worse.

If you want a seat with an actual window, you need to buy up to Window Plus (free for MileagePlus Gold members and above, and Chase co-brand cardholders). These seats don’t have a view of the ground because they’re located over the wing. If you want a full view, those are Premium Window seats, which come at a higher price (free for 1Ks, Global Services, and Club card customers).

The same treatment could apply to United’s Basic Lavatory, if they’d install a window in the first class lav. Coach passengers could be charged a fee for access, continuing the trend of unbundling premium products.