Gayle King was not feeling her recent experience on a United flight.
King said on a now-deleted Instagram post that she booked a window seat as is her custom.But her seat didn’t come with an actual window.
In the post, her boarding pass clearly states “window” under her business class seat number.
“I always like the window seat,” King said in the clip. “So I sit down, and I go, ‘Oh great, let’s look out the window.”
“There is no window. Well, maybe I can look at the neighbor’s window across the hall,” King went on. “Oh, a wall.”
“What’s a girl to do? I asked the flight attendant. They were very nice,” she noted. “It’s going to be a long ride.”
She wrote over the video in white text: “A window seat… without a window?!”
“When is a window seat not a window seat? C’mon @united!” she asked in the caption.
King continued, “The flight attendant agreed it was NOT a window seat. He said he had never seen anything like this. And while there was nothing he could do (full flight), he suggested I complain. This is me complaining…”
United was hit with a lawsuit in August 2025, when passengers claimed they were unfairly charged for “window seats.
Carter Greenbaum, an attorney at GO Law, accused the airline of not being forthright.
“When consumers purchase a window seat on United or Delta Airlines, they reasonably expect that the seat will have a window. Instead, for years, United and Delta have sold seats that they have described as ‘windows.’ Only to leave customers disappointed when they find a blank wall,” Greenbaum said.
Attorneys for United also released a statement explaining what “window” really means.
“The use of the word ‘window’ in reference to a particular seat,” attorneys for United argued. It cannot reasonably be interpreted as a promise that the seat will have an exterior window view. Rather, the word ‘window’ identifies the position of the seat. Next to the wall of the main body of the aircraft.”