Interesting discussion,
The large IFE screens are more annoying for sleeping than open windows as the first are also enabled during night, even when cabin lighting is off.

When I don't use IFE I switch is off. I mainly use it for the flight info and sometimes I watch a movie, but I also have my own 'IFE' as a tablet with videos and music stored on it.

And, as an astronomy hobbyist I even occasionally watch the stars (and take photos of them !). On westbound flights (Asia - EU) is is mostly one long night.

And otherwise, in daylight flights I enjoy the nice sights from places we fly over.

What you describe is the exception in my experience. Try transiting through Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat or Bahrain. Most passengers on most flights out of these airports will already have changed their watch by more than an hour, and will have another change still to be made.

This, I love windows seat to watch outside.

So just an update: UA said its not SOP to have the window shades closed and depends on the cabin crew (expected response).

A workaround to both avoiding drawn out conflict for those of us who like the window open is telling the CA you feel claustrophobic if the window is not open, which is kind of stretching the truth for me anyway but CAs need to accommodate people who have such issues, so saying you're claustrophobic allows for a pretty quick resolution.

Surveying the responses on this thread, the folks who don't like the window open mainly conclude that they're in the majority, which is very true or not at all true depending on where most of the passengers are originating from, and more nebulous reasons like personality or the current goings on in one's life.

I think a better argument from the windows open crowd is that a windows closed person has roughly 60 window seats to reserve to then close that window if it bothers them so much.

There will be peace in the Middle East before there will be peace between the shades-open vs. shades-closed camps.

I rather doubt it as I see people flout the seatbelt sign (when it is on) all the time.

This is one really nice thing about the 787 and electronic window shades.. FA can (and UA does) set them all to dark on long haul flights where folks would want to sleep..

A significant portion of AA 60 from Narita to DFW is over the beautiful snow capped Rocky Mountains in the daytime. AA flight attendant, who seemed to intensely hate her job, ordered us to keep our window shade closed at all times.

One reason why FA's are usually very pushy to shutter the shades, is that sleeping or movie-watching passengers are docile, quiet passengers. They don't ask for stuff and will just stay in their seats.

If it is a daytime flight, as far as I am concerned, the daylight stays with me. All you shutter closing bullies will thank me once we reach the destination, and your jetlag will be much less severe.

Isn't it great. Retrofits please. Best invention since radar.

She would have received all of my AAplause Certs.

^ I agree. It's hard enough to adjust to a huge time change without making it artificially dark hours earlier.

I wonder what would have happened if you kept the shade open and told the FA that you need to look out to allay you claustrophobia.

More annoying to me are the video monitors of neighbors who elected not to watch a program. On DTV-equipped UA planes, a loop of movie previews and commercials plays over and over again if you ignore your screen. Few people seem to know how to cut the screen off (push the "-" contrast button repeatedly until the screen cuts off). I have reached over sleeping seatmates to turn off their monitors when ignored.

Back to the window issue. When flying, say, EWR-BLR via FRA, the flight leaves EWR around 6:30pm ET, which (in winter) is 5:00am IST and arrives BLR around 1:00am IST. Therefore, I try to stay up the entire flight (both flights) as much as possible to get on IST time and get to sleep on arrival. The best solution (keeping the window open when light outside + the overhead light on) wouldn't endear me to the people sitting nearby. When the sun rose (on my last flight into FRA), I noted that the people that would be affected by the sunlight near me had eyeshades, so I opened the shade just enough to get the sun in my eyes. No one said anything.

Agree. Maybe airlines should have eyeshades available. Many carriers hand out earbuds, so why not shades?

I love to look out the window. Be it icebergs, the northern lights, forest fires or just twinkling lights I want to see it. I always prefer a window seat for just that --->THE WINDOW. My other half is a movie guy. He always wants that shade shut. He prefers the cabin as dark as possible. There can be a growl back and forth. We really do love one another. Also don't want to spend 10 hours in the plane without his company. So, I 'suffer' in silence with an occasional peak out the window. When we have one, I put the divider thing up after the meal is served and watch the world go by.

A secret reason I peak out the window is a bit of claustrophobia. It vanishes when I can see that big beautiful world out there. I like it when the airline video shows the outside. That would be answer. Cruise ships show the outside why not airplanes.