Originally Posted by
tarheelnj
Slightly off-topic question. One of the purposes of this change is to increase the amount of time the cabin is dark, so people can sleep, correct?
I had a situation once where my seatmate (didn't know him) put his flatbed seat in sleep position and fell asleep, leaving the overhead light on. Even with a sleep mask on, I was aware his light was on and found it annoying that he didn't turn it off first. What's the etiquette on turning your seatmate's light off? If it's a smaller plane with the button overhead, it's no big deal, but on a flatbed seat, it takes very good aim to turn your own light off on the handset, much less your next door neighbor's. Can the FA turn the light off remotely?
It could be dicey if he wakes up just has you're reaching over....
I think it's perfectly acceptable to reach over and switch off the overhead light if the other party has fallen asleep. In the off chance they should happen to wake up at the exact moment you do that, I would explain the situation accurately and say it seemed they fell asleep without realizing they left their light on.
This thread makes me feel better about how poor of a sleeper I am though. I have to be fully flat, have it dark, and only white noise to sleep. Yet I have no problem sleeping on flights with flatbed seats so long as there is an eye mask and either earplugs or headphones. Never had an issue with cabin noise or anything of that nature on an eastbound overnight flight.