Originally Posted by
eng3
I think it is just a different point of view. The other person always seems worse when you are the one being affected.
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The person in the window seat can be courteous and close the shade.
The person who wants to sleep can be courteous and put on an eye shade.
Indeed there can be a happy medium, shades can be down during times when most people would reasonably be wanting to sleep (night time/eastbound TATL for example), can be up during day flights, especially if people want to look out, can be halfway down (or halfway dimmed on 787) if it's daytime but the sun is causing glare on a screen, etc.