I believe that some regional carriers who fly for AA require all window shades to be open for takeoff and landing. I think it might be required on UA as well.

On AA the letter of the law seems to be window shades required to be open for taxi, takeoff, and landing only in exit rows.

Interestingly the US regs seem to be an exception to the worldwide norm of prohibiting carry-on articles underseat in exit rows during TT&L.

I don't think people should be prevented, however if someone asks nicely as it's affecting them negatively, I don't actively refuse their request. It is within the window person's right to do so, but IMO polite reasonable requests shouldn't be refused for the sake of doing so. I want to look out, but also don't want to ruin someone's flight - a halfway compromise or opening it when I want to look out usually works for all parties.

In flight right now and out of the 14 windows in the F cabin, 3 are open. 2 are mine (albeit partially at cruise as it's super bright out)

A big reason why crew like the shades closed is because it encourages people to go to sleep....and a passenger that is asleep is a passenger that can't go back to the galley to interrupt the crew's galley gossip session by asking for beverages or snacks. Insisting that the shades stay closed ensures that the flight crew has to do less work!

If someone were to ask me to lower my shade, I'd smile and say I need to keep the shade open "for medical reasons". If passengers are allowed to bring their dumb dogs on board "for medical reasons", then I should be allowed to enjoy my "emotional support scenery".

My favorite is when you get up to go to the bathroom and the crew comes over and closes it (yes, this happens and I've seen it). They don't care what time it is, they want everyone to be asleep.

One strategy I have taken if I think I might want to get some light is to select a seat on the side of the airplane that is out of the direct sun (depending on the time of the flight). For example, on TATL flights I sit on the left side eastbound and the right side westbound. On a southbound afternoon flight I would sit on the left (A) side of the plane, which would face east, away from the setting sun. This at least prevents direct sun, which I agree can be quite annoying. Although there is nothing prettier than seeing a sunset from 30,000 feet.

As I said above, I think this is much more a problem with AA transatlantics than BA transatlantic flights. On AA TATLs you tend to get a more senior (and therefore in my experience lazier and grumpier) crew. On BA TATLs the crew seem to be as hard working as on any other BA flight and I can’t generalize.

Short answer is yes - people want to be able to work on their laptop / read their screens, or sleep. This is a change from just five or 10 years ago.

I do almost always have my shades up at takeoff and approach, especially into and out of cities as I like to look at them. However after I am usually shades down during the daytime afternoon. At night, I am typically shades up if I am awake,

Edit - On short morning flights, say 10 AM or so, I try to leave windows open the entire time... On long morning flights (like 7 AM Saturday morning), shades down.

what a good idea. I’ve just changed a seat reservation prompted by your suggestion!

I agree with this. However, a dark cabin is only going to allow the luminated call button above my head to be that easier to be seen.

:D

Sleeping during daytime daylight hours was just as bad an idea for circadian rhythms 10 years ago as today.

As for working on a laptop, I do about as much of that on commercial airline flights today as I did 10 years ago. Both then and now mostly with the window shades open. I may close the shade or partially close it when there's an extreme amount of light coming in but I probably spend 75% of the time I'm working on my laptop on an aircraft with the shades fully open.

I enjoy working aboard aircraft and am very productive when working aboard aircraft as long as I'm in first. It's one of the reasons I insist on flying in first class. But I only enjoy that work when I'm comfortable and relaxed. Windows sure help with that.

I don't like to do my work at home, at an office, or at a client site in a coffin-like setting. I like to work with plenty of natural light streaming in. Not sure why people suddenly enjoy working in coffins when you put them inside aircraft.

Since I can't distract myself from work by watching CNBC when I'm on an AA flight, I find the amazing diversity scenery out the window accompanied by a sip of Woodford Reserve or a vodka and tonic to be an enjoyable brief diversion from spreadsheets, presentations, contracts, Daily Racing Forms, etc. when airborne.


Ah, the good ol' PESOM SEPOA rule!

I'm mostly fine either way. I have had a lot of situations recently where the glare from a magazine or a phone was blinding from the row in front of me. If they were in my row, I would have suggested they lower them a bit.

Well I work slightly off hours, so I tend to go to bed around 2 am... when I take a 4-5 am flight I very much appreciate it when everyone doesn't pretend a new day has began at 530 am... lol. So, some of us are just doing to have to be disrupted one way or another. You want a true day flight, start at 10 am or no later than 4, otherwise, vice versa... anywhere in between... good luck (to myself included)

Typically all the shades are down during boarding, ostensibly to keep the plane a little cooler while it's on the ground, and I think that it just doesn't occur to most passengers to raise them. When I'm in a window seat, I keep the shade open as long as there's anything to see, unless the sun is at an angle that makes it a hardship for someone else.

I was on a westbound transatlantic flight this week (daytime) and switched seats with someone who said he wanted to look out. I wanted to try to sleep (only try, not actually sleep) because by the time I was driving home from the airport, I would have been up for 24 hours. Unfortunately, instead of looking out the window when it was worthwhile, he read for that part of the flight and then started opening the shade every 15 minutes or so, just for a few seconds, apparently to see whether it was light or dark outside.

Post of the month for me! Can't stop laughing...

This post made me laugh a little. I'm a window seat person all the way, and often have my eyes at least partially tuned to the landscape outside. Once on a Japan Airlines flight, about 30 minutes after takeoff, the flight attendants came through with a long stick and shut every single window shade on the plane. It was a day flight, so one might think that was to mitigate the warming of the cabin, but that's sort of nonsense considering JAL (like many Asian carriers) keep their cabins about 78 degrees. So if they were that worried about a wee little sunlight making the cabin warm...perhaps they could have saved some energy but letting solar do that work for them?

wait, what?’ LOL I would need my inhaler if I saw that.