Battle Royale: Two Men, One Window Shade, Who Should Win?
Meg Butler November 22, 2019
In a moment that is sure to be named among history’s greatest air battles, two men strive to find out who cares more about whether the window shade is up or down. And, while there are a lot of things that we could say about this epic confrontation, none of those words would compare to the video which you can check out here:
WINDOW SHADE WARSAll windows were to be open for descent per crew and airline request, hence why dude in back had his open; not fake. 😳These. Are. Grown. Men. ✈️😂🙏🏼💁🏼♀️https://www.instagram.com/passengershaming/
Posted by Passenger Shaming on Monday, November 18, 2019
Brilliantly annotated by whoever shared this video with the world, the now-viral clip depicts a primal struggle for dominance over the light in their part of the plane. Up and down goes the window shade until the man sitting in front rings the call bell. Will the flight attendant put an end to the feud?
Nope. It’s not clear what she says when she approaches the gentlemen but the shade wars continue and the flight attendant does nothing about it. The video ends with the gentleman closest to the window holding it open in defiance.
Some Facts and Some Wild Speculation
While we don’t know a lot about this incident, it seems that the incident occurred on descent. But, if cabin crew did announce that the shade should remain open, the flight attendant certainly does nothing about it. We certainly don’t know enough about the incident to speculate.
But we also can’t help but wonder if this forum post didn’t precede it.
On our flight from [Schiphol to Minneapolis-Saint Paul] Saturday we were sitting in main cabin by the window in two seats. 10 H and J. About midway thru the flight we were asked by the flight attendant to lower our shades. At this point we were enjoying the scenery of Greenland which is beautiful to witness.
No big deal as this happens at times. I told the flight attendant no because we were enjoying the scenery, but we would as soon as we were done with Greenland. He said I would have to tell that to the passenger who complained.
I said no, I wouldn’t do that – mostly because I am so confrontation avoidant. He persisted saying it was not his job to explain to the passenger why I would not lower my shade. I said, probably rudely when I look back on it, that it was not my job to talk to another passenger.
He then left and because I was now feeling bad and definitely did not want to get involved in any air rage, lowered the shades. But I feel bad about this whole incident.
I understand the flight attendant is always in a tough situation, but I don’t think it should be my job to talk to other passengers. Plus I love the window being open, but totally understand that it can bother other people. Just an annoyance on an otherwise nice flight.
Whether or not this mild disagreement over scenery on Saturday devolved into the Window Shade Wars video on Monday has to be left to wild speculation. But, it’s certainly proof that disagreements over the window shade happen. Maybe even quite a lot. So, we’re asking you. When it comes to the Window Shade Wars captured on video, who was right and who was wrong?
A. This was staged. B. If the person with the window seat 100% gets to control the shade, then the person with aisle access 100% gets to control window seat's access to the aisle during the flight. What? That's rude? So is flooding the cabin with light when others are trying to watch IFE (in those cases where IFEs are present) or use laptops. C. The above also explains why "just put on an eye mask" doesn't work. Those are useful for cutting off light while sleeping. While watching a movie or using a laptop? Not so much. D. If everyone else's shades are down, and yours isn't, maybe it's you who are the problem. E. "But I haz claustrophobia or some other special-specialness! I haz to have shade up or God will kill a pupply!" Shut it. The rest of us shouldn't be forced to participate in your neuroses. Take a Xanax like everyone else. F. There's a thing called "Not being a tool." Ex. I was on a flight last week where the guy next to me was watching the scenery and such during takeoff. Completely fair play. At some point, we got up above the clouds and there was no scenery except: clouds, and he for some reason still had only put the shade down half-way, I asked, "Is it ok to close that?" and, he apologized, looked a bit sheepish and then closed it. I thanked him for his courtesy. Problem solved. Because that's how adults handle things.
Person videoing is an idiot. This looks like an E-Jet based on the windows which are large and spaced farther apart. The window in question was clearly closer to and should have been controlled by the passenger in front.
"Wow lot of posters here must not fly a lot. Some windows are in between seats. So who owns it then?" The passenger with the majority of the window next to him. "Non confrontational, but refused to lower the shade when asked by the FA???" This article refers to the FA asking the shade be up because they were landing. However, it seems the FA would not get involved in this disagreement, AFTER telling passengers to put them up
click bait for hits, duh
Thats clearly stages, who does that?