Do a majority of people sleep on daytime transcontinental flights?
 

I’m sitting in D1 from JFK to LAX now. I am usually a shades down at all times guy, but on this flight (left at 1:50 PM), I thought I may go shades up and pop open the laptop for a couple of hours of work. Out of 30+ windows, only four are open, and it seems like a dozen or so passengers are in full sleep mode. Is this common nowadays on midday long flights? No judgement, just curious

Many of these passengers likely connected from Europe, South America and elsewhere on overnight flights. Not all of them originated on the U.S. east coast.

If you think it's going to bother a sleeper, why not be kind and use your spotlight?

If they arrived in international D1, they should have a set of eyeshades from the amenity kit.

Hell, more often than not, I sleep on ATL-IND, regardless of the time of day.

I can barely sleep on a nighttime transcon, so no, I don't sleep on daytime transcons.

I do agree w/ European connections potentially being a culprit.

Normally I'm an aisle guy, but if in the window I may want to take in the scenery.

I’m so jealous of people that can sleep on planes....even in a flat bed I still struggle to sleep unless I’m medicated.

Interesting question here. What about a passenger's right to have natural sun during the day? Why should they sit in the dark (the spotlight is a flashlight in the dark). What is proper etiquette. I generally open the shade halfway, but if asked, will put it down.

There is no proper etiquette. People who like it dark will say the proper etiquette is to leave the shades down. People who like to look out the window will say the proper etiquette is to let the person in the window seat control the window (this is objectively correct, btw).

I haven't had a TCON flight in some time, 10+ years, but on my TATL Europe>NA flights, I tend to sleep half the flight for lack of anything else to do. Similarly on my flights around the South East, I'll probably sleep if there's nothing worth watching.

I can't imagine there are that many people flying in from Asia and connecting to LAX at JFK. MU and KE (edit, forgot about CI) are the only partners at JFK flying in from Asia, and their flights aren't timed to make those connections; KE81 could but as best I can tell it's not a codeshare onward to LAX. Just checked the JFK arrivals for today and was surprised by the number of international Europe arrivals that happen before noon. I don't think Atlanta has a single arrival from Europe/Asia that lands before 1pm. I guess it's possible that a significant number of those in D1 JFK-LAX could be connecting passengers, but I still feel like it's more likely they're O/D.

For flights over 4 hours: Plane time = sleep time. Shades up or shades down.

I don't fly for business but have done the New York-Los Angeles trip a lot, as I live in NY but my family is in LA. This is just my two cents from my personal situation.

For me, I'm more "conscientious" about the right sleeping on European transatlantic flights (which from New York are often not that much longer than the transcontinental flights) because of the greater time difference and usual "high-stakes" vacation, i.e. if I'm going to Europe it's usually on a long-planned vacation so I don't want jet lag to ruin it. So I'm very picky about trying to sleep on the eastbound red-eye and then staying awake on the westbound return.

But when flying between LA and NY on daytime flights, I basically just sleep if I feel tired because I can adjust a lot more quickly to the 3-hour time difference, and usually these days if I'm going to LA it's just to bum around in sweats at my parents' house (ha), so if I'm a little irregular on sleep for the first day or two it doesn't really matter.

I can't sleep on a plane either. Oh I might doze, but I never really sleep. As to the shades...I like a window seat and I also like to look out a lot. I would really be miffed if someone asked me to lower my shade. The only exception might be if the sun was really glaring in. If they don't like the natural light and want to sleep, let them wear eye shades.

I can’t sleep on transcon red eyes. I fell asleep on one flight in my life and it was a 45 minute 20 seat prop from Santa Maria to lax. No idea why that one woke up when wheels hit the runway.

i am in the if you want to control the shade book the window seat. For the most part it is only open when I fly with my wife since I usually get aisle and the window wants it closed. With wife she has the window and she has it open. Bring eye shades if you need it.

It isn’t always about sleeping versus being awake. What about if someone wants to watch a movie on a laptop/tablet or the back seat screen? Isn’t shades down better in order to avoid the light shining on the screen?