Windowless Ryanair seats spark online debate as travelers discover no view

Travelers who believe they have booked a window seat on Ryanair flights are facing a surprising reality: certain seats marketed as window seats have no window at all. The quirk appears tied to the layout of Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800 cabins, where some seats sit adjacent to ducting and cabin walls rather than a view to the outside.

One traveler, Roxana Mihaela, shared a TikTok video showing seat 14F on a Ryanair flight with no window. In the clip, the camera pans to reveal a wall in place of a window, with the caption, "POV: You book a window seat with Ryanair." Mihaela later said in comments that the seat was 14F, and online chatter has long pointed to 11A as another common windowless option. Other users have posted similar clips, including Andrea Giulia in a video last year showing a windowless seat, captioned, "POV You always book the window seat but this time there’s no window. Ryanair why." The Wardrobe of online posts has helped popularize the phenomenon for some travelers.

Image: Windowless Ryanair seat

Last year, Klaudia posted a clip about being seated next to a cabin wall on Ryanair, writing, "POV: Nobody warned you about 11A seat on Ryanair." In each case, Ryanair has defended the practice, noting that passengers are warned when booking that a seat may be windowless and that it is the passenger’s responsibility to read the seating notice. The airline has even addressed the issue on social media, with posts implying that the lack of a window is not the airline’s fault if the seat is selected without checking.

In online exchanges, some commenters have pressed the airline for an explanation, while Ryanair has offered a lighthearted response. One user asked, "Why doesn’t it have a window?" and was met with a rival blunt reply from the airline account: "They’re overrated." The back-and-forth underscores the tension between travelers hoping for a view and the realities of cabin design in these aircraft.

From a technical standpoint, the windowless seats on Ryanair’s 737-800 fleet are linked to how the cabin’s air conditioning system is configured. The aircraft’s ducts—the channels that regulate temperature and airflow—are located near the landing gear area. On Ryanair’s 737-800 cabins, this arrangement places the ducts by seats such as 11A, which in turn limits space for a true window. As a result, several seats, including 11A, 12A, 12F, 14A and 14F, can be windowless despite being marketed or perceived as window seats. This layout has persisted across multiple flights and has prompted ongoing online discussion about seat selection and expectations.

For travelers who wish to avoid the windowless seats, aviation experts and consumer guidance typically advise checking the seat map carefully during the booking process and looking for explicit notes about window availability. If a window view is essential, passengers may need to select alternative seats or consult the airline’s seating prompts before finalizing a purchase. While Ryanair has reiterated that the warning is part of the booking process, the online videos and anecdotes show that some passengers overlook the notice, leading to disappointment upon boarding. The ongoing online storytelling around windowless seats illustrates how modern travelers increasingly turn to social media to verify experiences and pressure carriers to clarify seating layouts before purchase.