Photo: Getty Images North America
Gayle King is calling out United Airlines after booking a window seat in business class that didn't actually come with a window, per PEOPLE.
On Sunday (January 4), King took to Instagram to share her experience during a recent United Airlines flight, where she discovered that her seat didn't come with a window as advertised. In a now-deleted video, King showed her boarding pass, which labeled her seat as "window," before panning the camera to reveal a blank wall where the window should've been.
“I always like the window seat,” King said in the video. “So I sit down, and I go, ‘Oh great, let’s look out the window’… There is no window.”
The CBS News anchor joked that she might try to look across the aisle for a view before tapping the wall beside her.
“Oh, a wall," King quipped.
King said she spoke with a flight attendant, who acknowledged the situation and told her he had never seen anything like it. Because the flight was full, there was nothing that could be done at the time, though King was advised to file a complaint.
“When is a window seat not a window seat?” King captioned her video. “C’mon @united!”
The incident comes amid ongoing scrutiny over the airline's seat classifications. In August 2025, United was hit with a lawsuit from passengers who claimed they were charged extra for “window seats” that lacked actual windows. In a motion filed last, the airline argued that the term “window seat” refers to the seat’s position next to the aircraft wall, not a guaranteed view outside.
“The word ‘window’ identifies the position of the seat,” United’s attorneys wrote, “not the presence of an exterior window view.”
The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.