Originally Posted by
daisyatl
Just curious and not trying to be challenging, but what do you do on night flights when there is not much natural light? Presumably turn on the reading light? Could you not do the same on a day flight (with the window shades closed)? And I don't think the average passenger is selfish. They do not bring eye masks and certainly not all can afford the best. So they are either not experienced or people assume that people will sleep on long flights and most people do not sleep with the lights on. Also, do you keep the shades up the entire flight? Perhaps airlines should sell eye masks or people who insist on shades open (in economy) carry some spares for their neighbors.
I mostly don't sit in window seats, in order to avoid hassle. In a wide-body aircraft, I'll generally sit in the center section, unless I'm with a SO who wants to sit by the window.
Whether I'm on a night or day flight and the window shades are down, I keep my reading light on for the entire duration of the flight. You'd be surprised how aggressive some people get about that, complaining that it's preventing them from sleeping, even if I'm actually reading and not sleeping! And the number of complaints rises if the layout includes backward-facing seats (I normally pick one of those)....