I’ve written in the past about airplane window shade etiquette, which basically boils down the person in the window seat having control of the window shade’s position, with some exceptions for courtesy. I’m curious about a variation on that question, and how others handle this, whether you’re an aviation geek or not.
In this post:
Fully dark aircraft cabins drive me kind of bonkers
As a general rule of thumb, I select window seats whenever possible, and my preference is to have window shades open.
For one, I’m an aviation geek, so I love observing all phases of flight, the wing, the engine, etc. Beyond that, the world is beautiful, and I’ll never take the miracle of flight for granted, and how amazing the views are. There’s something so magical about looking out over the world, being 35,000 feet away from everyone else’s BS (well, maybe not so much anymore, due to the widespread availability of inflight Wi-Fi, but I digress).
However, there’s no denying that on many flights, virtually all window shades remain closed, despite it being a daytime flight. Sometimes it’s because the crew specifically asks passengers to lower the window shades out of respect for other passengers, so they can rest. Other times there just seems to be peer pressure, and some people do it, so then others follow.
As I see it, there are a couple of situations where it’s objectively appropriate for the crew to encourage people to close their window shades:
- If it’s a “redeye” flight despite it being light outside most of the way, like many flights from Asia to the US that depart in the early morning, and then it’s only briefly dark, before being light the rest of the way
- If it’s a flight where it’s dark outside, but the sunrise will catch people off guard, when they’d otherwise be sleeping
However, what I’m less a fan of is the trend of virtually all window shades being closed on your run-of-the-mill daytime flights, especially those that aren’t long hauls.
For example, several weeks ago I took the five-hour flight from Miami to Salt Lake City, departing around 9AM. I understand others want to get some rest on that flight, but I kind of hate sitting in darkness for that many hours when I’m wide awake, and had a good night of sleep. I just want to gaze out the window and watch the world go by! Should the desire of other people to sleep on a daytime flight supersede my desire to look out the window?
How do you balance your preferences with those of others?
All of this brings me to my question — in situations where passengers decide amongst themselves that it’s going to be a “dark cabin,” do you just automatically go along with that, or how and where do you draw the line?
Assuming it’s a flight where I don’t think it’s inappropriate to keep window shades open, my thoughts on this are twofold. First of all, if I notice all window shades are closed at the beginning of the flight, I’ll open “my” shades early, in hopes of starting a trend, and making others not feel peer pressured into keeping them closed.
Beyond that, during the flight, my take is that if any other people have their window shades open, I’m happy to open mine as well. Meanwhile if literally every window shade is closed, then I won’t do that, because I know how blinding that can be. The below social media post from some time ago is a funny example of that. Though I will say, I’d make an exception if we were over Greenland and there were amazing views, or something like that.
Bottom line
I’m always amazed by how on so many daytime flights, the cabin stays dark the entire time, with virtually no one opening their window shades. I can sort of understand that for long haul travel, but for short and medium haul travel, it confuses the heck out of me.
Ultimately I’m not here to judge the choices of others, though I always struggle with looking out the window when I’m seemingly the only one who is interested in doing so. It’s almost blinding when you have a completely dark cabin and then one person opens their window shade. At the same time, if one person opens it, then maybe a trend can be started.
Anyone else not love the trend of totally dark cabins on so many flights? And if you’re a fellow window seat passenger who likes looking outside, what’s your approach?
I generally leave mine open at all times on domestic flights unless it’s a red eye and I know the sun will come up before landing.
Last year I flew BA in J LHR-LAX, in the forward mini-cabin and somewhere over Hudson Bay I realized I was the only one in the cabin with their windows open still. It was a daytime flight and I had no need or intent to sleep, but everyone else...
I generally leave mine open at all times on domestic flights unless it’s a red eye and I know the sun will come up before landing.
Last year I flew BA in J LHR-LAX, in the forward mini-cabin and somewhere over Hudson Bay I realized I was the only one in the cabin with their windows open still. It was a daytime flight and I had no need or intent to sleep, but everyone else was conked out so I closed it until we got over the Rockies and the scenery improved. I was a little surprised I hadn’t been asked to close it earlier - I would have.
Anyone who gets on a flight and closes the window shade right away is a TOTAL MORON. It's a beautiful world - look out at it. People, put your phones away for a few minutes and appreciate the natural beauty of the earth!
Napping is an incorrect and disgusting habit, and it should not be encouraged or accommodated. Daytime domestic flight = windows open. Do these freaks keep their curtains closed at home?
Also note that when flying from Phoenix or Vegas in the summer it's critical to keep them closed on the ground
The problem is when they're not aligned and it's not clear who has the window
I don't care what people think of me. I, and I alone, will decide on whether the window shade is up, down, part-way open, or part-way closed. That is one of my perks, and not to mention my god-given right, as the person who chose to sit in the window seat.
Absolutely in the "shades open" camp. I love watching the world go by from 35.000 feet. On a daytime flight, open shades it is. If you want to sleep that's fine, that's what eye masks are for.
Cabin attendants asking everyone to close the shades (or even worse, making that decision for everyone on the 787) on a daytime flight always give me the vibe of "let's put everyone to sleep so we'll have an easy shift". Possibly unfair, but that is the vibe it gives me.
“He who pays the piper chooses the tune”.
If anyone is unsure what is meant by that ancient phrase, please ask, yes.
Please remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question …. only stupid answers!
AND I'M SURE YOU'LL HAVE ONE, NO!?!
Absolutely EskimoBot, I am always willing to help those less fortunate than myself.
Please note, I do not find it necessary to resort to shouting my response at you EskimoBot. It is considered to be so uncouth don’t you know? Shouting at someone is almost guaranteed to have much less of an impact than a few choice words don’t you know?
There you have it EskimoBot, my considered answer to your rather obvious question,...
Absolutely EskimoBot, I am always willing to help those less fortunate than myself.
Please note, I do not find it necessary to resort to shouting my response at you EskimoBot. It is considered to be so uncouth don’t you know? Shouting at someone is almost guaranteed to have much less of an impact than a few choice words don’t you know?
There you have it EskimoBot, my considered answer to your rather obvious question, yes? Please file it in your “I must try much harder” folder. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you wish, I will not think them to be stupid, however, I really cannot speak for anyone else, don’t you know?
SILENCE, YOU FLAGRANT LOBSTERBACK BUFFOON!
I generally keep my window open on daytime flights. The view, especially over the western US or Greenland, is worth it! If someone asks though, I’ll close it.
I usually give in before the flight attendants or a fellow passenger ask :). I'm as passive as you are Ben.
Domestic flights shades however I want them to be. Long haul I try to be sensitive to let people sleep through the middle of the flight and keep in mind time zones (both departing and arriving) but if I’m trying to adjust circadian rhythm I’ll often open my window shade a little bit at a time to get some natural light if I’m awake and it aligns with the time zone I’m traveling to. Gradually opening over an hour or so minimizes the disruption to others I think
Totally respect your opinion, and on most issues I tend to agree or see your point of view, but not on this one.
Let me start by saying, for short haul or even medium haul flights (anything under six hours / domestic US flights) I think you have valid points, but long haul, unless you’re flying over something spectacular like Greenland, please do not be that one person that ruins an entire dark cabin...
Totally respect your opinion, and on most issues I tend to agree or see your point of view, but not on this one.
Let me start by saying, for short haul or even medium haul flights (anything under six hours / domestic US flights) I think you have valid points, but long haul, unless you’re flying over something spectacular like Greenland, please do not be that one person that ruins an entire dark cabin for everyone.
Years ago, will never forget flying nine hours in Lufthansa business class Munich-USA. Had connected from an overnight flight from the middle east that left at 2am and landed in Munich at 6am and got very poor rest…all I wanted to do on that Lufthansa flight was sleep, and every single person in the 40-50 seat J cabin had their window closed…except the one woman across the aisle from me…that blinding sunlight was like two lasers piercing into my eyes, I swear it almost gave me a migraine. I know what others will say - use an eye mask - which I did. But I find them uncomfortable and it felt so unnecessarily inconsiderate of her to change the dynamics of the cabin environment for 40 people just so she could stare at the Atlantic Ocean…for six hours…
again, short-medium haul, I get it, but long haul…you never know where people are coming from, when they started their day, and people usually pay to sit in J to rest and acclimate to combat jet lag, so unless you’re flying over some spectacular arctic landscape (in which case I do get it), please don’t be that one person that ruins a restful environment for hours on end…
I’m with you. The expectation should be for night flights but not day. There’s nothing intrinsically more important about Person A wanting to sleep at 11am vs Person B wanting to stay awake.
It is absolutely rude to keep your shade open on a long flight. How would you like it if you were a ER doctor that worked overnight shifts saving lives and therefore needed to sleep during the day, but some one randomly shines a bright light on you the entire time you try to sleep? Please stop doing this.
Sorry, I could not disagree more. I work in a high stress job overnight as well. But I would never be so selfish to expect people to sit in the dark during the day, just because of me and my job.
It is my choice that I have this job. If I want to sleep during the day, I put a eyeshades on and my noises canceling head phones.
It's my problem so I find a solution, not make my problem other people's problem.
Literally the ange of the sun matters. The other day I was blinded by the sun from 4 rows away. There was no way i could sit at all without a blindfold
I politely asked another passenger to adjust the shade. He did.
Had he not, I would’ve had to blindfold myself to protect from the particular orientation of the sun.