What kind of Kindle does the OP have?! I have the $139 second generation wifi Kindle, and I can't imagine it ever having a glare!

Since you put the word unreasonable in quotes, I'm going to assume you were referring to me because I used that word. Unfortunately for you, I never said, or even implied, that that the woman was unreasonable for being uncomfortable. I said asking another passenger to turn off his overhead light is an unreasonable request. Which it is.

That would have been a reasonable request. Unfortunately, that's not what the woman requested. At least not according to the account we've been told.

OP, I hope you were able to appease her by simply angling your Kindle differently and did not acquiesce to her unreasonable request to turn off your light and, therefore, stop reading.

Exactly. The Kindle has a matte finish and reads like a newspaper or regular book. It reflects about as much light as a piece of plastic would. The Kindle Fire would be different but as the OP said it wasn't backlit I assume this wasn't the case. And he wouldn't have needed a reading light to use the Fire.

Though I understand her discomfort, I believe OP has the right to read. Perhaps if she had asked him to tilt it, it would have felt less annoying.

This is a hard thing to judge, since we are not able to hear the tone of voice used; nonetheless, I agree that it would be easy enough to angle the Kindle differently and ask if that was better. I don't think that the woman had the right to ask that the Kindle be turned off, however. A simple change of the angle should have sufficed, if indeed there was such a glare. I own both the Kindle and the Fire, and I can't see the regular Kindle ever causing a glare like a flash of light others have described.

One thing to consider:
 

I get migraines, and flashing lights are a migraine trigger for me.

If it were an act of will, trust me, I'd be tougher. I'm not overly sensitive in personality, but I'm extremely light sensitive. The flash when the sun hits my son's phone or Kindle or my husband's iPad can be quite painful.

I have had experiences on planes where people have the window shades up and the glare just kills.

It is my problem to deal with, so I travel with an eye mask and I do my best to avoid the glares. But it is sure nice to think that I wouldn't be thought rude just by asking politely for someone to adjust the angle of their device for me.

Anita

I suppose if she asked politely it would trigger a response from me and I would try to accomodate her. but if it was rude command, all bets are off and she gets told to go ....[inappropriate reference deleted by Moderator per FT Rules.]

SCM53, you are all class and compassion. :mad:

IMO, fellow flyers have every right to politely ask me to not recline, put down the window shade or turn off my overhead light.

In return, I have every right to politely refuse.

Well, many of us try not to.

Hate to break this to you, but the glare from one of those screens is pretty powerful and annoying.

My husband uses his iPad during our morning commute and when the sun hits the screen it's pretty blinding. I have to ask him to move it so I can see while I'm driving.

I think the other passenger was being rude by asking the person to turn off his light and stop reading. It's one thing to ask nicely for a fellow passenger to change the angle because of the glare it's another to ask a fellow passenger to stop what they are doing to pass the time.

And they create eye masks for a reason. If anyone in the cabin wants total darkness that is the only way they can achieve it.

I've been a victim of kindle reflection on a flight, it wasn't the reading lamp but the sun coming through the window and then flashing in my eyes. It was very annoying but I didn't say anything as I figured the angle had to change in a short period of time anyway.

Same here. Not an unreasonable request, in my opinion.

It's kind of interesting that the general response in this thread is in favor of asking the Kindle user to change the angle of reflection.

I seem to recall in other threads about window shades, most have sided in favor of those who want to keep their shades open.

The window shade thing is a pet peeve of mine - just experienced it all the way across the Atlantic yesterday when two fellows across the aisle (mind you, this was on a 3-4-3 across NZ 777) felt they wanted to keep their shade up for nearly the entire flight. I was in the A seat so I was completely across the plane and it greated a great glare on my AVOD screen.

I was annoyed but I didn't go over and ask them to put their shade down. I just held up my safety card to shield my eyes/screen - which is what I've done on other flights.

I'm curious - does everyone find that the Kindle glare/reflection is any different from the window shade issue?

The screen of an iPad is nothing like the screen of a Kindle. The former is shiny and highly reflective. The latter is matte and barely reflects anything. It's intended to read like a book or newspaper and that's the finish it resembles.

If the OP was using a Kindle Fire (backlit just like an iPad) then the comparison would be valid. But from the OP's description we can deduce that wasn't the case.