david-alexis

GReat thread!

BadgerBoi

(:- +1

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I know this is a delicate subject but I'm firmly in the 'blinds down' camp.

It interferes with viewing of PTVs.

One time I was sitting on a flight and the passengers next to the window - the ONLY passengers in the cabin with their shades up - were struggling to view their screens and were using a magazine to block the light from their screen.

I mean, c'mon... didn't they realise the same problem they were having they were causing to almost every other passenger?

Thankfully in 'true' First class (most non-US carriers) and within Asia most people prefer the blinds down so it's not really a problem. We even had blinds down for a 2 hour flight Shanghai-Tokyo, and an even shorter 1.5hr flight Shanghai-Seoul. And people snoozed after the meal.

For business class i prefer an aisle seat, but it seems I should be selecting a window seat in future just for the sake of it so i can close the blinds? That doesn't seem a very fair compromise to those of you who like windows...

OskiBear

just did a r/t to europe on LH in C. FA's came by and closed everyone's shades for them.

I'm a fan of shades down because i'm in the aisle and the light somehow seems brighter or hits me at a weird angle every time whereas the window passenger is enjoying the light for reading.

That said, I just grin and bear it. if i cared that much, i'd get a window seat - and i'd rather be in the aisle.

Ancien Maestro

I wouldn't start being a "loose cannon" neither..

If FA's tell you to do something, and presses the issue.. just better for everyone to suck it up and cooperate.. get to the next destination safely..

pacer142

As the window isn't much use if the blind is closed, it doesn't seem an *unfair* one. (I know some people choose window seats so they are undisturbed, though - I choose them to look out of the window).

Neil

LondonElite

True, because we like the window seat not for shade-control, but to look out.

LondonElite

I'm told Ryanair planes have no shades!

Wally Bird

So what would you suggest is a compromise ? I've got the window seat, the blind up and am looking out (reason doesn't matter). You want to watch the AVOD but the exterior light is making it difficult.

What do we do ?

david-alexis

cLEave the blind up for take off, and close it like everyone else thereafter

pacer142

Turn your iPad or similar so the light doesn't reflect?

I'm joking slightly. But I wonder if, once everyone who wants it carries their own AVOD[1] with them, the airlines might stop providing it.

It's a bit like payphones and at-seat audio on UK trains - introduced with a fanfare in the early 2000s, quickly rendered pointless by the advance of technology.

[1] I personally prefer AVOD to occur inside my head, by way of a book. But each to their own

Neil

pacer142

They were talking about that but I don't know if they actually did it - I have a feeling they didn't because shades are standard and they'd have to pay more not to have them, or something.

Neil

Wally Bird

Thank you for clarifying the meaning of compromise for me .

Passmethesickbag

During my early flying days, when I was still an inexperienced flier and an untrained scientist, I picked window seats on the side with the best expected view over Greenland or whatever, and an open window shade was important to me. Now I've seen Greenland loads of times. I choose aisle seats whenever I can; when I'm seated by a window, I still open the shade for long enough to enjoy the view. I also now understand more about how light affects the human body clock. There are two specific time windows when light affects your body clock - in the morning, it advances your clock and in the late evening, it delays your clock. This means that, on a daytime westbound transatlantic flight, light in the evening is helpful, as it helps delay your clock and thus helps you reentrain faster. However, on an eastbound flight that lands during a European morning when your US-adjusted body clock thinks it's evening, light exposure is very unhelpful. Say you take a flight ORD-LHR that lands at 6 am (midnight CST). Light exposure following sunrise during the latter part of the light (and indeed after landing) will also start delaying your clock, when you need to advance it. In other words, instead of the required advance of six hours, your body will start delaying in the direction where you'd need to move 18 hours to readjust.

Having said that, my big pet hate is passengers who don't understand that their shades need to be raised for takeoff and landing, with a very special hatred reserved for FAs who don't bother to tell them to raise them.

gglave

I think Alaska Airlines foresaw this - They rent digiplayers to the people who want them, otherwise pax use their own AVOD devices. The nice thing about the IFE on AC is you can use it (usually) gate-to-gate. Not an option with your own player.