11½-hour daytime flight in darkness
 

Last weekend we flew LHR-GIG in Club World. When I booked the flights in late November, of the 35 CW seats on this 787 Dreamliner, all 10 window seats were already taken. Even when check-in opened at T-24, no additional seats became available.

During take-off, the passengers whom I could see in the window seats didn't look out of the window once, and as soon as we finished the initial climb after take-off, they dimmed the windows, which blocked out all natural light. I complained to the cabin crew who switched on the cabin lights, which meant we could just about see our lunch while we ate it. We were forced to spend the rest of the flight in darkness - a daytime flight that pushed back on time at 11:25 and arrived well before its scheduled arrival time of 21:15. The time difference at this time of year between the UK and Rio de Janeiro is only 2 hours, so a change of time zone was no reason for the enforced darkness. While waiting for the loo, I spoke to both the first officer and the CSD, who agreed with my point of view, confirming it was the passengers and not the crew who had dimmed the windows in CW, but they said that it is British Airways' policy to allow passengers in window seats to control the daylight for the whole cabin.

I could see that in the WT and WT+ cabins, a minority of window seat passengers had thoughtfully maintained natural light for the benefit of all, but in CW just 10 CW passengers are given the power to selfishly enforce darkness on the remainder of the 35 passengers. On previous LHR-GIG flights, it had not been a problem because I had a window seat and I had ensured that natural light was not unreasonably denied.

As a result of being deprived of daylight for nearly all of this 11½-hour daytime flight, it disrupted our body clocks, and we woke up for long periods during the subsequent night. Particularly on a 787 Dreamliner where the window dimming can be controlled remotely, I believe that the power of a minority to selfishly deprive the majority of daylight should be removed, particularly where the impact lasts longer than the flight itself. If passengers don't like being next to a source of natural light, then they should avoid booking window seats instead of selfishly depriving other passengers of natural light.

By coincidence, I had recently seen this very relevant article, which concurs with our experience: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/artic...ion/index.html

crew are not supposed to lock windows out from passenger control. they can and do centrally dim them but they are still supposed to be operable by the passengers.

however, if it is the case that all the window passengers choose to fully dim their windows and you are in a non-window seat i fail to see what you can do about that - at the end of the day the window seat passengers shouldn't be forced to undim their windows if they don't want to.

Why not when the health impact is on all passengers, not only the passengers beside the window?

If In a window seat I put the blinds down so I can see better my IFE screen. I don't consider myself selfish just because I like to be able to enjoy the available movies... and not ruin further my eyes...

You are "all passengers" now? ;)

I consider that very selfish.

1. Why should your IFE take precedence over the health impact upon other passengers in the cabin?
2. Why do you book a window seat if you don't like being next to a source of natural light? Why not instead book a seat in the middle of the cabin as far away from natural light as possible?

I see the frustration, and I personally agree, more daylight is my preference, but I generally believe in the option that imposes least on everybody. Trying to sleep whilst it's bright is a lot harder (even with an eye-mask) than trying to stay awake whilst it's dark.
I fly to SFO a lot, usually on the early flight, which is roughly 10:30am-10pm London-time, and it bothers me that everyone closes the blinds as I love looking out the window - but that's the better option for the cabin overall.

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At the time of booking, you knew all the window seats on this flight were taken. If being in a window seat was so important to you, you should have booked on a different flight, just as someone who wants to travel in F should avoid booking themselves on a flight where all F seats have been sold. You certainly don't have any right to dictate to those in window seats whether or not they are allowed to have the blinds closed.

It's not the norm to sleep during daylight hours. Why should it be the norm on board an aircraft? The time difference argument doesn't apply to this flight.

how do you know what time of day the other passengers body clocks are on? It may not be a sleep time for you but for those connecting from elsewhere on to that flight that may be there natural sleep time