Window shades

[MEL_Traveller]

I remember those days but though they were being collected so they were not pinched. My farther and later myself used to hide the air tube type so as they were not collected. These old types were very useful to tune twin carburettors.

Possibly collected so pax didn't walk off with them But there was also quite a while when personal walkman type earphones had to be removed for takeoff and landing. It was really only with the 'invention' of gate to gate IFE that the rules went out the window.

 

[Ade]

I assume you weren't watching Season 8 of Game of Thrones..... it was so dark I couldn't even see it at home in pitch blackness!

Nah, not GoT, I was watching "Family Guy" cartoon

 

[CPMaverick]

I got similar treatment on VA MEL-HKG. As it departed in the AM, this was a daytime flight- in both timezones! So why do the FAs want a dark cabin so badly? So frustrating. Especially with gorgeous views of the Philippines and other islands.

I choose a window seat because I love looking out of the window. Other passengers can use eyeshades if they want dark. If they are bothered by the screen glare, sorry, I am looking at the real world, and enjoying the miracle of human flight. This is something I can only see in this very moment, you can watch 3 year old episodes of Big Bang Theory later Brenda.

I do try to be nice, I usually close my window about 75% of the way if I'm not looking out of it. Then I can open it when I want to see and it doesn't cause a huge difference in the amount of light coming in. I think it is more disturbing to have it fully closed and then open it, the change in light can be blinding.

 

[Tallfont]

I am a window seat traveller for all the good and obvious reasons! I like to look out the window when I am flying! I am not fanatical about it and sometimes if the sun is blazing in and/or I want to watch something on the IFE I will close it.

Only a few times have I been asked to close the blind. Always by another passenger. I just say that I get claustrophobic on aircraft and it tends to bring on air-sickness when I can't see out the window. Problem solved....

 

[mtbsafari]

I don’t need to have the blind open at all times but I occasionally like to look out, especially on approach to a new city.

I recently took a LATAM flight SCL to MEL (LA805?) on 787 and the blinds/shade seemed to be under the control of the crew. Certainly, I couldn’t do much with them - so not a happy camper.

It was my first time on 787. Not that impressed. First time on LATAM too. Crew and food were excellent but not super keen on the J product.

Probably for another thread but I lurve the A380. So, where I can continue to use it, I will. The old 747 workhorse isn’t bad either but almost as old as me. A350s I’ve been on have also been good.

 

[Pushka]

I got similar treatment on VA MEL-HKG. As it departed in the AM, this was a daytime flight- in both timezones! So why do the FAs want a dark cabin so badly? So frustrating. Especially with gorgeous views of the Philippines and other islands.

I choose a window seat because I love looking out of the window. Other passengers can use eyeshades if they want dark. If they are bothered by the screen glare, sorry, I am looking at the real world, and enjoying the miracle of human flight. This is something I can only see in this very moment, you can watch 3 year old episodes of Big Bang Theory later Brenda.

I do try to be nice, I usually close my window about 75% of the way if I'm not looking out of it. Then I can open it when I want to see and it doesn't cause a huge difference in the amount of light coming in. I think it is more disturbing to have it fully closed and then open it, the change in light can be blinding.

Except if the light is beating through and on to the screen so you can’t see the movie then eye shades aren’t exactly going to fix that issue.

 

[1022]

I'm resolutely in the window-seat-shades-up-to-look-at-the-wonder-of-the-world camp. When selecting seats I'm conscious of what side of the aircraft is most likely to get direct sun/glare and pick a seat on the opposite side so that having my window open is more comfortable.

I remember once on a QF767 flying SYD-CNS the American chap in the aisle seat next to me leaned across and literally slammed the windows shut as soon as we took off. I slammed them back up and enjoyed the view all the way to CNS

It seems that it's now standard practice on every airline to darken the cabin on day flights between Australia and Asia, despite the negligible change in timezones and despite the views all along the way. (Outback landscapes, tropical clouds, islands, cities...)

The glare on screens argument is a bit of a furphy apart from early morning/late afternoon when the sun is lower and shining directly in a window. I mean we all seem capable of staring at screens in our offices and homes with natural light around us!!

I'm no fan of the 787 but the one saving grace is being able to set the windows to a partial tint (as QF do) to still see out.

As for OP's comments directed at CX, I have has a mixed bag with them. A couple of weeks ago in PE from HKG-MLE a young nasty piece of an FA (what ever happened to their previously gracious service standards at Cathay?) leaned across and slammed the blinds down without so much as an 'excuse me' - just as I was enjoying a magnificent sunset. She didn't object when I immediately reopened them thankfully. Just continued checking mediocre catering and bad wine at the people in the rows behind. A much better CX experience was in F a few years ago from JFK-HKG, flying over Greenland at night. The FA noticed that I was a bit of a window gazer earlier in the flight. Soon after clearing dinner I thought she was coming over to tell me to fully shut my partially open blinds. Instead she said "open them wide - you'll see the northern lights!" I was stuck to the window like a kid flying for the very first time for a good half hour. While the rest of the cabin was watching rubbish on their flickering screens.

 

[nonscenic]

The CX plane out of ADL are a330 and have push up/ pull down blinds.

CX seem bad in insisting shades are down on daytime And to HKG flights. Their Y food seems to have gone off to making CZ a less bad option now that they have a new terminal in CAN.
When I get a window seat I like to see the land being flown over by day and lights at night. Highlights in recent times for me were flying on a QR A320 from NRB to DOH as we passed near Mt Kenya then over Somalia, the gulf of Aden and Oman and the other flight the climb to pass over the Andes from SCL to EZE. It amazes me that people let these scenes pass by just to watch the IFE, but then as a retired meteorologist I am fascinated by the clouds end route

 

[CPMaverick]

I hate the 787's control of the window shades. Dawn landings at LAX can be quite spectacular, and I've had QF have the window shades forced fully black for landing. Not cool. One of the many reasons I avoid the 787 now.

Except if the light is beating through and on to the screen so you can’t see the movie then eye shades aren’t exactly going to fix that issue.

This is a very rare case, only applicable close to sunset, or during an extreme bank angle. Otherwise it is impossible for the sun to reach the IFE screen directly. There is no such thing as mid-day glare that makes the IFE screen completely unusable. If someone is super-sensitive to sunlight on their IFE screen, tough cough, they should get a window seat so they can control the window.

I certainly try to partially close the window shade to minimize this issue. But if it comes down to it, real-world views should override old movies and TV shows that can be paused, rewound, or watched later. The views are only there in the moment.

 

[Pushka]

This is a very rare case, only applicable close to sunset. , or during an extreme bank angle. Otherwise it is impossible for the sun to reach the IFE screen directly. There is no such thing as mid-day glare that makes the IFE screen completely unusable. If someone is super-sensitive to sunlight on their IFE screen, tough cough, they should get a window seat so they can control the window.

Really? I’ve noticed this issue on most flights at any time of the day.

 

[CPMaverick]

Really? I’ve noticed this issue on most flights at any time of the day.

It's pretty simple geometry. How does the sun directly shine on a IFE screen when it is directly above the plane?

Yes, any light makes the IFE screen relatively a bit dimmer. The IFE is more pleasant to watch when the windows are closed. But when all the windows are open in the daytime, people still use the IFE don't they?

Essentially if someone asks me to close my window shade for their IFE, they are basically telling me to turn OFF my IFE (the real world) so that theirs is just a little easier to watch. Not an acceptable trade.

 

[Pushka]

It's pretty simple geometry. How does the sun directly shine on a IFE screen when it is directly above the plane?

Yes, any light makes the IFE screen relatively a bit dimmer. But when all the windows are open in the daytime, people still use the IFE don't they?

It isn’t just the sun itself but bright light that’s the issue.

 

[1022]

It isn’t just the sun itself but bright light that’s the issue.

Do you sit in the dark at home or work to use a screen?

 

[Pushka]

Do you sit in the dark at home or work to use a screen?

I ensure I have a balanced light that doesn’t glare. Our lounge window faces west and throws light on to the TV so the outside blind is lowered at this time of the year, around 3pm.

 

[CPMaverick]

Sorry, but you can't eliminate one person's IFE on the flight just because it makes yours a little bit less than ideal.

Nobody is disputing that the light makes the screens a bit less precise, but the topic is if you should force someone to close their window because of it. If you don't like the shade up but are happy to deal with it, you aren't part of the problem.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Really? I’ve noticed this issue on most flights at any time of the day.

spot on.

It’s the glare, not always directly sunlight, that causes the problem.

 

[JennyMG]

Sounds like a pitiful first world problem to me.
I'm a WINDOWS OPEN girl.
Take it back to basics. Day time? I should be able to see out. I want a windows seat for that reason. I Love the scenery. No scenery? Love the clouds. No clouds? Love the light. It's my entertainment.
I like the light on when I'm watching tv at night too. It's bad for your eyes to have strong light against strong dark. But...again. Back to basics, I like DAY TIME to look like daytime. And lets face it, that's the default view.

An airplane is not a cinema. (where I expect it to be dark.) If the screens don't function well enough in the 'daylight' then that's not up to the other passengers to fix. There are ALWAYS screen brightening adjustment buttons on the screens, and if that doesn't work well enough - movie watchers will get it nice and dark when the sun goes down. And as someone said above, it doesn't preclude watching, simply makes it 'less than ideal.'
An airplane is not your bedroom. (where you'd expect dark.) Sleepers will get it dark when the sun goes down.
Just because you CAN sleep on on a plane (get some eye shades) or watch movies on it (lucky you that it's the 2000s!) doesn't mean those of us who would like the light (because it's day time) should have to close their windows to make it nice for the passengers who prefer it pitch black. (I can't find anything in my bag, I don't want to sleep, I can't read unless I turn the light on...which is kind of the same, isn't it?? and I don't want to be 'forced' to watch a movie, when I'm flying over the Himalayas, Thai islands, PNG, Hong Kong.. or somewhere spectacular.'

I've only been asked on one flight to close my shade. I refused. I was 'leant over' and had it closed for me. I opened it up again. About half way. It's absolutely ridiculous. I have as much right to look out, even onto vast expanses of ocean, as those who want to watch tv. I paid for my flight just like everyone else.
It was a Thai Airways flight from Bankgok to Sydney. I'll never fly them again. Not only for that reason, but the service, the food and the behaviour of attendants was deplorable. (AND we were economy, I didn't think it could get worse!)

 

[JennyMG]

I hate the 787's control of the window shades. Dawn landings at LAX can be quite spectacular, and I've had QF have the window shades forced fully black for landing. Not cool. One of the many reasons I avoid the 787 now.

Really?? Why on earth (pardon the pun) would they close windows for landing??? as you say, NOT COOL!!! It's one of my favourite things, seeing my first views of the destination. I hope I don't get 'black windowed' on landing in Paris at 6am.

 

[drtravel]

I was almost thrown off a plane for refusing to lower my window shade at 3:00 in the afternoon on a Cathay flight out of Adelaide. I chose a window seat specifically so I can see the scenery. However the staff asked me to close the shade and when I politely refused I was abused by other passengers. Is this the new norm ? feed the passengers then expect them to sleep, when it's still daylight?

I’m definitely a shades up passenger. Why be glued to a screen in the dark while the world passes beneath you. There is ALWAYS something to see. If people want to sleep during the day, fine, there’s eye shades and ear plugs.

 

[CPMaverick]

Really?? Why on earth (pardon the pun) would they close windows for landing??? as you say, NOT COOL!!! It's one of my favourite things, seeing my first views of the destination. I hope I don't get 'black windowed' on landing in Paris at 6am.

I started getting fidgety as we made our descent, and I hailed a FA and asked them to enable the window shades. She acted like I just didn't know how to operate it. I told her I know how it works but it's been disabled... she told me that wasn't even possible. Sigh.

About 60 seconds before we touched down the windows were enabled again.