On a recent domestic 763 flight (ORD->SDO I think) the cabin lighting malfunctioned and all the reading lights went on. The light made it harder for my 6 year old to sleep, so I asked the FA if they could fix it. The FA was nice, but pretty clueless ("is that why it is so bright in there"). The FA called someone on the phone to have them fix it. I don't think it was the purser from the tone she used on the phone. The reading lights were on (broken) the rest of the flight. She blamed a broken computer, which she tried to reboot. I went to watch with her reboot it but backed off when another FA gave me a dirty look.

Any idea if this was really maintenance issue or was this a case of FAs not working hard enough to resolve the problem? Isn't there an FT member that is a UA mechanic? Maybe he could comment?

I considered asking for the purser, but I decided not to. I considered asking for comp but didn't do that either.

Should I have done anything differently?