Delta, the United Passengers allege that the airlines have sold millions of window sieges without windows

According to actions in collective appeal proposed proposed Tuesday before the Federal Court of San Francisco and Brooklyn, the New York Federal Court, the two airlines violated their contracts by deceiving customers, by accusing them of window seats but by placing them in the gaps between the windows without effectively disclosing the placement of the passengers.

“United has specifically represented to the complainants and the members of the course that the special seats they have chosen had a” window “, even if United knew very well that they did not do it,” said a complaint. “Nevertheless, United has requested, accepted and kept money, points or other air advantages that consumers have specifically paid to sit next to a window.”

A separate complaint uses a similar language to describe the alleged experience of customers with Delta. The prosecution said that beyond being more paid approval passengers, window seats can help alleviate transport evil or soothe grumpy children, among other advantages.

Of more than 1,000 United Airplanes, many are planes of the Boeing 737 series and the Airbus A321 series which contain at least one window without windows – generally 10A, 11A or 12A, depending on the prosecution. The smaller Delta fleet has a similar composition of the planes with these windowless configurations, generally the result of the conduit models of the condition of air conditioning or electric conduits. The proceedings said that each airline had sold more than a million windowless seats over the past four years.

United refused FortuneComment request. Delta did not respond to a request for comments.

Grievances to seat costs

Headquarters fees – such as having to pay more to sit by a window seat or outing line – Among other luggage and flight change costs, are a strategy used by airlines to increase income while maintaining the basic price of flights. American, Delta, United, Frontier and Spirit Airlines produced $ 12.4 billion in seat fees between 2018 and 2023, according to a November 2024 report on the permanent subcommittee of the US Senate on Investigations. Delta obtained 0.3% of its income from costs in 2023; Headquarters also represented 2.6% of United Revenues in the same year. The survey was part of a push from the Biden era to increase the transparency of the airlines of hidden fees.

According to the proceedings, United can charge $ 50 for an assignment of window siege on indoor flights and $ 100 for certain international flights, while Delta passengers must pay up to $ 40 to reach a higher tillet level, to which they should pay more than $ 30 to choose their window seat. These uploads for the characteristics of airlines may not engage in part of the broader problem of airlines that have paid invisible on passengers, according to Carter Greenbaum, one of the lawyers who deposited the two prosecution

“Consumers are rightly angry that they continue to be billed for costs and for services that were once free and included and that companies are not in advance with the cost of products,” said Greenbaum Fortune. “Consumers are tired of junk food costs, and it’s a bipartite problem.”

Delta saw the double -edged sword to offer too many amenities to customers of the upper middle class, sailing on customers on overcrowded fairs that were freshly updated with gastronomic services and valets at the start of the year. The legislators also examined Delta’s decision on individually priced tickets using AI, which could lead to “predatory prices”. The airline said prices would be “publicly deposited and based solely on travel -related factors”.

Pushes to increase transparency

Although passengers can use sites like Seatguru to see the aircraft seats cards and assess whether their headquarters will actually be next to a window, Greenbaum has said that the burden should always be on the airline to be transparent with customers on the reality of their headquarters.

“A company cannot distort the nature of the products it sells, then rely on third -party opinions to say that a customer should have known that he was lying,” said Greenbaum. “If third parties are able to do this information effectively, there is really no excuse for United and Delta to be transparent on the nature of the premium upgrade they sell to customers.”

Airlines have already been in trouble to promise services to allegedly promising customers that they could not deliver. In 2018, US Airways paid a regulation of $ 9.85 million to resolve a collective appeal alleging that the airline did not immediately reimburse luggage service costs recorded after passenger baggage has been lost, damaged or delayed. Current affairs against Delta and United are even more “extreme” than the 2018 trial, said Greenbaum. In each of the proceedings he has filed, there are 100 people in each class with aggregated complaints of $ 10 million.

“In this case,” he said, “they literally sold customers a window-free window seat.”