kale73

I have been known on occasion to fall asleep on a beach at high noon. It would be most ridiculous for you to believe that I'm an ancient Roman deity.

Even if we're not presently living in the Age of Aquarius, I still think we should let the sun shine in.

The Situation

I will only sleep on a 6am flight going Westbound or the connection from a redeye up/down the East Coast, and even then, I keep the shades open and limit myself to an hour of sleep or I will get jetlag. All other times during a daytime flight, the window will be open to prevent jetlag. Sleeping because you are bored, to pass the time, or because "you like it" is not a good habit to get into and I have learned that the hard way as its really hard to get a healthy sleep at night if you spend too much time sleeping during waking hours.

bitterproffit

My naps are not bothered by open shades. I would never ask a window seater to close the shades on a day flight. My nap shouldn't infringe on the joy of daydreaming while staring at clouds, or looking at the land zoom by (the magic of flight stuff).

cmd320

Agreed. Nothing worse than being on a 1pm flight in a pitch black cabin with all the shades closed. I always select a window seat for this reason.

I get the point of it on a long-haul flight crossing many time zones or something of that nature, but not on a short domestic flight including a transcon leaving just before 2pm and arriving at what, 4:30pm? If you want to nap that's why there's an eye shade in the amenity kit.

chipmaster

I'm sure most people are divided between up and down, do I hear partially drawn, LOL.

Except when I'm flying N-S and have the rising or setting sun shining in, my preference is to have the shades up. Nothing is worse then being in a flying tube for any length of time in a dark environs. Why do they turn up the lights for meals, so the friggen FA can see, and you can see that wonderful tasty meal they put in front of you!

Why they turn them down and pull the shades on the long flights, so the FA can hope everyone sleeps, they can go to the back and do minimum service, LOL.

My personal opinion for safety, beauty and sanity we should keep them open. For people that need to sleep, aren't their those things they hand out up front and you can buy for a few dollars that cover your eyes?

Darn those countless flights from SFO-PVG and PVG-LAX back it would have been nice to have a little daylight instead of sitting in the dark for 12+ hours!

DTWflyer

I tend to doze-off on almost any flight at any time of the day, typically right after takeoff, but really only a short cat-nap and wake-up once we get to altitude and/or service begins. I usually do work on my laptop, read, or watch something on the show. I don't sleep as well on the road, in hotels, for work travel I tend get less sleep than I do at home so I can be a bit tired on the return trip home.
Daytime flights I am usually awake for the flight.

The only time I really try to sleep on a flight are the super-early 6am departures where I've been up since 3:30am, or on the really, really late night flights where its after midnight.
Red-eyes TATL flights too at least for an hour or two with limited success.

ND76

rWhenever I've gotten a seat in D1, I generally put the seat in the supine position at wheels up and try to sleep as long as I can.

On a recent trip in domestic F IAD-ATL-SEA and SEA-IAD, I slept on the westbound ATL-SEA from push back to North Platte, Nebraska (probably 3 hours); on the eastbound non-stop, I fell asleep during taxi out and woke up somewhere around Plymouth, Indiana (20 miles south of South Bend), about 60 minutes out of IAD. I was also able to sleep around 2.5 hours after having my PDB but before push back when the 27 minute flight between BHM and ATL back on 10/25 took a total of 4 hours 15 minutes from boarding to deplaning due to a ground stop at ATL (I was #6 for 9 upgrades, thank goodness).

I have trouble sleeping in Y, even when I have the seats next to me open. On 11/4/19 I flew IAD-FCO and only slept for two one hour stints; I got woken up by a big bump about 1000 miles west of Ireland, and the turbulence was so significant for the next two hours that I could not return to sleep. On the west bound this past Monday, I did a little better, falling asleep during taxi out and waking up during meal service, then slept around 2.5 hours, waking up in the middle of turbulence about 500 miles northeast of Bermuda (we took the southern track over Madrid and Lisbon).

ijgordon

I do like to look out the window and I do like to try to use daylight to regulate my internal clock on long-hauls. But I also try to be cognizant of direct sunlight streaming in through a fully opened window, as well as the fact that bright light can make it difficult for others to watch IFE. So on long-hauls, I usually won't leave the window open more than an inch, that lets in enough light for my immediate area, and maybe I'll pop it open a little wider temporarily if there's something interesting to look at (like polar ice).
On domestic daytime flights I'm more inclined to leave it open, subject to not letting the sun shine directly into someone's eyes.

I think this is one of those topics where there's no right answer and lots of different opinions, some quite strong. People should try and compromise when possible.

lindros2

I nearly always sleep on flights, including those transcon and westbound transatlantic (day flights, that is).

jrl767

given your earlier statement (which, as someone who has been in and around the world of aviation safety -- commercial and military -- for a loooooong time, I completely agree with), I find that admission more than a bit ironictakeoff and landing are the highest-risk phases of flight ... i.e., when there's the most likelihood of an emergency incident or accident ... and therefore the times when passengers need to be most alert to respond to crew instructions

MSPeconomist

I agree......and I always keep my shoes on during takeoff and landing even if I change into slippers in the middle of a long flight.

Solivagant

I always get sleepy on flights over 2 hours. I think it might be caused by the air pressure, change of oxygen or something related. Nothing keeps me from getting drowsy.

racheva

I don't usually plan to sleep since I generally fly JFK to LAX leaving at 9am, and I don't usually fly with a flatbed. But Delta pushed up my flight in July from 8am to 7am (I think they consolidated flights) and that is seriously early. Since I'm flying in D1 this time, I think I might try to go back to sleep once on board! I'll be getting into LA at 10am, after all.

v11a

No, most don't sleep, but the FAs sure wish they would. That's why they dim the lights, drop hints about closing the window shades, and crank the heat up.

(Excessively heated plane temps actually make it impossible for me to sleep, but that seems to be part of the FA "RX" for putting the passengers to sleep so life will be easier.)