Asked to lower shade
Nov 21, 2019, 6:32 am
#91
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
Pretty simple in my mind...
1. Other passenger was correct to ask the FA to ask OP to lower shade because it was bothering them.
2. FA was correct to ask OP to lower the shade.
3. OP was within their rights to say no.
4. FA was WRONG to tell OP to talk to another passenger. That will not end well. It is 100% the FA's job to simply tell the requester that the person by the window has elected to leave the shade up, as is their right.
Having said that...
If the sun is shining in and it is hitting other people's VOD screens/their eyes/etc, one should be considerate and close the shade. But still up to them to do it or not.
(If it is just because the cabin is too light for the requester... the requester can pound sand. Plan ahead and bring your own eye shades.)
1. Other passenger was correct to ask the FA to ask OP to lower shade because it was bothering them.
2. FA was correct to ask OP to lower the shade.
3. OP was within their rights to say no.
4. FA was WRONG to tell OP to talk to another passenger. That will not end well. It is 100% the FA's job to simply tell the requester that the person by the window has elected to leave the shade up, as is their right.
Having said that...
If the sun is shining in and it is hitting other people's VOD screens/their eyes/etc, one should be considerate and close the shade. But still up to them to do it or not.
(If it is just because the cabin is too light for the requester... the requester can pound sand. Plan ahead and bring your own eye shades.)
Nov 21, 2019, 6:55 am
#92
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Delta, BC
Posts: 1,646
This is wholly incorrect. The relevant section simply states interfering is enough.
It in no way limits it (and I've never heard anyone suggesting it does) to simply following instructions for smoking/seat belt use. If you fail to follow a crew members instruction you are interfering, plus if depending on how you refuse, it can be intimidation.
It in no way limits it (and I've never heard anyone suggesting it does) to simply following instructions for smoking/seat belt use. If you fail to follow a crew members instruction you are interfering, plus if depending on how you refuse, it can be intimidation.
Just sayin'.
But, I do agree the regulations don't limit it to some enumerated set of instructions that must be followed.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:12 am
#93
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Toledo, OH
Programs: Delta DM & MM, Hilton DM, Marriott gold, Hyatt Globalist, Alaska 75K, Wyndham Diamond,
Posts: 15,399
Lower it if you will (inflight) but I will never understand people who lower or keep lowered those shades on take-off and landing (especially landing). Don't you want to SEE your proximity to the ground as you are descending as well as be "prepared" for that hard-slam dunk (or not) when you actually land ? Good grief, to be moving at hundreds of miles per hour in a metal tube with no perception of this is maddening to me.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:14 am
#94
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: SkyMiles, HHonors, Marriott
Posts: 129
I love sitting on the A side of an RJ with 1-2 seating in First. There have been a couple flights I have been on where I was in 1A and the FA told me when we started the descend that I had to lift the shade and keep it up until we were at the gate. Not sure why it's only seat 1A and only on a rj. I've never had that request before when I've had a window in row 1 on any other aircraft.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:22 am
#95
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
Lots of foreign carriers get this and check that all shades are up during these phases of flights.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:46 am
#96
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: YYZ,FCO,ATH
Programs: AZ MilleMiglia, AF/KLM Flying Blue, A3 Miles & Bonus
Posts: 91
You can look at Greenland on Google Earth if you really need to. When a FA tells you to do something, you do it. If I was the FA I would have just reached over you and shut it myself. Newsflash: buying a ticket doesn’t entitle you to any control whatsoever over the aircraft equipment, including the window shade. You are free to open it and close it until the flight crew instructs you to do otherwise.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:47 am
#97
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Back in Reds Country (DAY/CVG). Previously: SEA & SAT.
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Posts: 10,349
It also has to do with having one's better adjusted to the ambient lighting conditions outside. If all shades were closed and the cabin was dark but it was the middle of the day or if the shades were and lights were on in the cabin making it a bright atmosphere inside the cabin at night, the inability to see well outside until one's eyes adjusted would hamper cabin evacuations.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:50 am
#98
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 18
That's fine, not trying to get into a discussion about seat recline. In either case, in my view, you effectively pay for the right to use the functions of the seat you select - be that the shade if you're at the window, or reclining in economy.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:56 am
#99
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3,097
1. If I accept your premise, then we do not know the reason why the shade was asked to be closed.
2. If we do not know why the FA asked for the shade to be closed, then we cannot assume the reason why. Therefore, that leaves us with the following:
3. OP doesn't like confrontation.
4. The FA politely asked you to please close your shade.
5. OP did not comply, thereby inviting confrontation.
What did I miss?
2. If we do not know why the FA asked for the shade to be closed, then we cannot assume the reason why. Therefore, that leaves us with the following:
3. OP doesn't like confrontation.
4. The FA politely asked you to please close your shade.
5. OP did not comply, thereby inviting confrontation.
What did I miss?
1) we DO know why the FA asked the OP to lower the shade, it's because another passenger complained.
2) not liking confrontation and doing everything possible to avoid confrontation are not the same thing
3) declining the request isn't guaranteed to create an escalation, ESPECIALLY in cases where the FA is just passing along a request from another passenger.
Nov 21, 2019, 7:59 am
#100
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3,097
Also note I didn't say just blindly do as FA asked. I said FA are going to stop asking, instead just order you to shut it. (Which some airlines are doing by policy. Once meal service is over the shades are closed.)
2) as noted before, if FA instructions need to be followed for safety reasons (which I would agree with) it's extremely bad policy for them to use that authority for anything other than safety issues.
Nov 21, 2019, 8:02 am
#101
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Denver, CO, USA
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Posts: 26,700
If an FA tells me to hit another pax, I'm not going to do it.
This FA-as-Gestapo meme is really tiresome.
Nov 21, 2019, 8:07 am
#102
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3,097
The reality is that people have different preferences and part of living in a society is coming to terms with the fact that you don't always get what you want.
Nov 21, 2019, 8:11 am
#104
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3,097
That's a lose for everyone. Pax in question, other pax, and FA - all of whom get a real dose of radiation. No wonder why those who care about their health and radiation exposure will never sit by a window on a plane. Of course, just one flight dose is not that much, but frequent fliers on the plane, and the FAs... it's really not subject to selfishly subject them to the extra unnecessary dose of radiation.
Nov 21, 2019, 8:11 am
#105
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: DL DM
Posts: 355
Agreed 100%. If the passenger with the open shade is trying to use daylight to stay awake, to adjust to whatever time zone he/she has coming up (possibly on a connecting flight to the current one), isn't that just as valid as one who wants to sleep (and can use an eye mask to do so)?