MBS MillionMiler

...And for me, it's the PRIMARY reason I'd select a 787 over any other aircraft. My photosensitivity threshold is rather low. I wear sunglasses on rainy days, my house is generally low-light after dark and we have room-darkening blinds throughout the house.

I've sat in the window seats on the 787--I've never had trouble seeing outside when the crew has darkened them (maybe in my case they haven't gone to "10" on the darkening scale? I'll concede that I don't know). Conversely, I was once flying to China in J, fully reclined, we turned a corner or something, and despite the 'dimmers' on and eyeshades, I had the sun directly in my face, in a blueish-green hue...Woke me right up.

And I can't tell you how many times on other aircraft, I'm trying to watch a movie and can't even see my screen with the sun coming through. The glare can get unbearable when there's an unobstructed sun coming through the windows.

There are a plethora of threads about this very topic already. And I'll continue to champion for darkness rights.

JBord

Me too, especially during day time flights over land. Seeing Alaska or Greenland from above during the day can be quite beautiful...or even along the east or west coast of the US.

To me, this is one of the drawbacks of the 787, unless individuals are allowed to control their own windows.

findark

I was about to say.. did you ask? Seems like the sort of thing where the default is to dim the shades and that doesn't mean they'd be unreasonable about letting you have views for the 9am-noon part.

This is what we had on my MEL-LAX (10:30am departure and overnight) last month.

notquiteaff

Pick a window seat and have control over those window shades that are most likely going to affect you and your screen.

I'll continue to champion for window seaters' rights.

As long as the airlines don't tell me that the windows are there purely for our safety (during take-off/landing/emergency evacs) I am going to assert my right to enjoy the view from 30k ft. I don't see why that right is less important than the right to watch a movie without light reflections.

That doesn't mean that I am going to be unreasonable when I am in the window seat and have control over the shades. If there is nothing to see and I sense that other people's video watching is impacted, I am closing it at least partially. For sleeping I recommend bringing eye shades (obviously included in amenity kit if you're in a premium cabin), but otherwise good ones are readily available on Amazon or many airport stores.

Maybe in the future airlines will hand out daydream-type VR devices to solve this problem. I might actually try that myself (I have a Pixel and Daydream, but never tried watching a movie).

http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11...vr-experience/

Dromomaniac

No, not until after the flight. And whether my request would have been recognized with as much cooperation and understanding by a different flight attendant mid-flight remains an open question.

I was genuinely curious to see how long the "lockout" would last. I'll be on this same flight again next week, so I'll see what happens there with a different crew, and maybe I'll mention something earlier.

Like I said, I tend to be fairly easy-going with these types of things and recognize there are some who don't care about the windows and think that darkened windows all the time are perfectly fine.

fumje

Regarding suggestions that it's reasonable for crews to lock the shades dim and wait for passengers to ask before releasing—really? 1. this might be viable in C, but in Y hah. 2. it's a silly burden to make a passenger call/find a flight attendant before opening a having a look out the window.

ErgoTraveler

It has been some time since I flew a 787. I was on one of the first few months of the DEN-NRT segments. During that flight people (in J) were constantly dimming and opening the window "shades". They didn't get that there was a lag in response when adjusting the window tint. Consequently, the window tint continued to ramp up and down until the person tired of this or figured it out.

I wonder if the current "policy" is to reduce the tint cycling and wear and tear on the electronics.

Tblack15

99% of FT threads turn into this discussion.

"I do what I want"
vs.
"It's for the greater good"

I was sleeping on an aisle seat once until a child on the window kept opening and closing the shade. Something reflected straight into my eyes. I'm for the plane wide shade-off scheme.

fumje

While I of course have thoughts about window shade rights, what I'm actually pointing out is that the crew override is a significant departure from previous—normal—norms of shade usage. Suggesting that it's reasonable to need to obtain shade operation rights from a crew member overlooks this.

notquiteaff

If you PM me your mailing address, I will send you, free of charge, unused eye shades from a recent trip. Will even throw in some ear plugs to block out future kids

demkr

Yes, and I have said for years that the "CLOSE YOUR WINDOW SHADES" stuff is unique to United. No other airline acts like this in my experience.

On LAX-LHR a few weeks ago the crew in Business had the window controls locked even while we were descending - a passenger actually had to ask them to undo it.

Now that there's no "shade" I guess they have decided to exercise full control.

Newsflash: Some people actually *like* looking out the window and it's why they book the window seat. Most people will keep the shade/controls down when other pax are sleeping or on long haul flights, but I like having it open shortly before landing at minimum

Dromomaniac

Having the shades open and the ambient lighting in the cabin more-or-less matching the outside conditions for takeoff and landing should be compulsory. I agree this is a safety issue.

mrswirl

My last 787 flight LHR-LAX I was in aisle seat of the exit row and one of the two teenage girls sitting next to me "opened" the shade of the little window on the door mid-flight. After taking turns looking out they both sat down leaving the shade un-dimmed.

I quickly jumped up and re-darkened the shade as it was apparent they didn't have any intention of either a) continuing to look out the window or b) dimming the shade in respect of the rest of the cabin.

Prior to that I wasn't even aware that the door's window had the same control button.

Admittedly I was a bit of a jerk about it but they had already gotten on my nerve before takeoff by trying to get me to swap for a middle seat so their other friend could sit there. When I said no they gave me attitude which I didn't appreciate.

Karl Gustav Annus

Was a couple of weeks ago onboard AC B789, FRA-YYZ.
The flight departed in the afternoon, with sun shining bright. Approx 1,5h in we had sunset, and it went dark-ish outside. Before landing it got brighter on the outside again. As I was quite exited about the system I played with the "blinds" most of the flight.
IIRC it was more or less as follows: (0 no shade, 10 max shade)
Takeoff - set 0, it was limited 0-5
Seatbelt sign off - limit 0-10
Main course - set 6, limit 0-10
Tables cleaned - Set 10, limit 3-10
After sunset - limit 0-10
Pre-land snack - set 0
Landing (darkish, after sunset) - limit 0-5
I'm pretty sure sure that the system is the same on all planes and that its mostly about company policies and crew

live5

I truly think this is crazy. If you're trying to sleep & require total darkness, wear an eye mask. I, like some other posters have mentioned, specifically choose window seats so that I can stare out my window for the majority of the flight. A locked window makes a window seat almost as bad as a middle seat.