I'm lost! Hello... greetings from the AA forum. I can confirm the phenomenon of crew forcing blinds down is not unique to United. Every westbound trans-Atlantic I've ever taken on AA (and US before) has had the crew going around closing blinds themselves on empty rows and asking people to close theirs elsewhere after meal service. On a day flight, I always want to keep the window open to look out, and always choose a seat on the non-sunny side to disturb as few people as possible. If there's nothing to see, I'll mostly close it. The crew reaction is usually one of grumpiness when I explain I want to stay awake and look out. It's clearly because a dark cabin is an easy cabin for them to work.

I've also had this happen on BR, CX, SQ, EI and QR heading west on day flights so it's not just a US carrier thing, sadly.