Air New Zealand Air Points - Shades down on daytime flights

Currently in London from NZ. Flew Business from AKL via Hong Kong. Both sectors were great from a service point of view.

The flight from Hong Kong to London is a day flight, so why do the the Cabin Crew insist on blinds down and lights off for the whole flight. I had just slept for 9 hrs flying from AKL, so why on earth would I want to sit in the dark for another 12 hrs to LHR. I can understand if its a night flight - but with that sector, regardless of if you are ex-AKL or Hong Kong itself its daytime hrs for your body clock anyway.

I dont want to seem selfish (but maybe I am ;) ) to those that want to nap in the daytime, but is it reasonably to be forced to sit in the dark for 12 hrs in the middle of the day?

Anyone with any insight into this particular habit?

Craig

Currently in London from NZ. Flew Business from AKL via Hong Kong. Both sectors were great from a service point of view.

The flight from Hong Kong to London is a day flight, so why do the the Cabin Crew insist on blinds down and lights off for the whole flight. I had just slept for 9 hrs flying from AKL, so why on earth would I want to sit in the dark for another 12 hrs to LHR. I can understand if its a night flight - but with that sector, regardless of if you are ex-AKL or Hong Kong itself its daytime hrs for your body clock anyway.

I dont want to seem selfish (but maybe I am ;) ) to those that want to nap in the daytime, but is it reasonably to be forced to sit in the dark for 12 hrs in the middle of the day?

Anyone with any insight into this particular habit?

Craig
NZ is not the only airline that does this but I used to agree with you about being told to lower the blinds. It was a very big peeve for me.
I now support it as the IFE screens can become unviewable if the sunlight hit the screen. I do not know why the cabin lights are turned off though:confused:

I agree with you as well.
If it's a day flight I will keep my shades up. Doing otherwise can sometimes cause problems with jet lag when you arrive.
I think this boils down to the cabin crew wanting people to sleep so they can provide less service.

For those who want to sleep and don't want light coming from my windows, I always suggest that they employ eyeshades. The only other concern from some people is that they cannot see their movie because of the light, which makes their request more difficult to deal with.

I was on a China Airlines flight in F and the man opposite me (other side of plane) made a BIG fuss with the FA because I had my shades up on a day service during the meal. She approached me and asked me to put them down, "at another passenger's request". I said I cannot see what I am eating and he can use his eyeshades. She went back and told him (of course he never actually spoke to me), and he got even more angry and nasty (all in Mandarin, which I also speak so I could hear every word). This made me even LESS prone to doing what he wanted, but I gave in after I finished eating to reduce the FA's stress.

I'm 100% in support of the shades down policy on NZ39.

While it may be morning in Hong Kong, its midnight in London. It'll be mid-day when you get there so you'll want to arrive refreshed. Sleeping - at least for the first half of the flight - is a good way to adjust to the time change.

Secondly, anyone who boarded in HKG had to get up at 5am to catch the flight, probably after partying late the night before. Once you're in the air, its nap time!

I'm 100% in support of the shades down policy on NZ39.

While it may be morning in Hong Kong, its midnight in London. It'll be mid-day when you get there so you'll want to arrive refreshed. Sleeping - at least for the first half of the flight - is a good way to adjust to the time change.

Secondly, anyone who boarded in HKG had to get up at 5am to catch the flight, probably after partying late the night before. Once you're in the air, its nap time!

But for people that started off at AKL they have already had there nighttime on the way to HKG. There would be no way that I could sleep again on the HKG to LHR sector. Jetlag wise you would be better staying up on most of the HKG flight if you have arrived from AKL.

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But for people that started off at AKL they have already had there nighttime on the way to HKG. There would be no way that I could sleep again on the HKG to LHR sector. Jetlag wise you would be better staying up on most of the HKG flight if you have arrived from AKL.

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I stay up most of the flight from AKL. Then get a long deep sleep on the second leg and arrive refreshed.

Better to have a tiring first flight (keeping awake) but then good to go as soon as arrive already adjusted to timezone, than to stay with NZ timezone for longer, good sleep first flight but not the second and be sleepy on arrival.

Qantas do this as well on their daylight HKG/LHR service (well on the upper deck at least).

They almost most need to market it as a sleep/not sleep cabins.