Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
-
- BritTraveller
- Posts: 81
- Joined:
Dimmed Cabin During Day?
So in April I travelled on a UA 788 flight from LHR to IAD. The flight took off at 12:00GMT and landed at around 15:05Eastern. Throughout the entire flight except Takeoff and the last 45 minutes, the windows were on the darkest setting and we weren't able to change it. Why was this?
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
Maybe the sun was particularly bright outside? No idea... I’d have asked the flight attendant. Must have been annoying not to be able to see outside properly!
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
On most international flights I have been on, including Europe-US daytime flights, almost all pax have kept their windowshades down most of the flight (other than takeoff and landing) so people can sleep if they want and it reduces glare on seatback monitors and laptops.
-
- bergkampsticket
- Posts: 126
- Joined:
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
I've only had this on westbound TATL flights with UA. My theory was the crew want to do a quick service then encourage sleep so they get left alone.
-
- CollegeAviator
- Posts: 558
- Joined:
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
I've had red eye flights with EY and CX where the crew were quite strict about asking passengers to pull their window shades down, even if sunrise was an hour after arrival. Weird, right?
Edit - on second thought, I realized this wasn't a useful answer, just thought I'd share it, I suppose!
Edit - on second thought, I realized this wasn't a useful answer, just thought I'd share it, I suppose!
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
My view is that it is often done at the convenience of the cabin crew. Asleep passengers are quiet, non-demanding passengers. Ergo, the modus operandi of the crew on many long haul flights is to get 'em fed and watered then off to sleep ASAP. So cabin lights are dimmed and shades drawn soon after meal service. Does not seem to matter if it is a night time or a daytime flight. Seeing how difficult and demanding some passengers can be, I cannot say I blame the crew.
I have noticed (on BA at least) that the cabin lights are lit differently between cabins. I do not just mean colours (although they can differ also) - the schedule for dimming/raising the lights differs. I have seen the J cabin in complete darkness whilst the Y cabin is fully lit. I assume that is something to do with the cabin service taking longer in Y over J cabins?
I have noticed (on BA at least) that the cabin lights are lit differently between cabins. I do not just mean colours (although they can differ also) - the schedule for dimming/raising the lights differs. I have seen the J cabin in complete darkness whilst the Y cabin is fully lit. I assume that is something to do with the cabin service taking longer in Y over J cabins?
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
AA does it on their 788 fleet with the crew dimming the window shades as early as the 10K foot altitude level after takeoff and prior to landing.
On a ORD-NRT daylight flight the windows were dimmed the entire flight within 20 minutes of takeoff and about 15 minutes prior to landing NRT.
On daylight flights I don't see why to do it until meal service is complete, although F/A's did report complaints from passengers who don't like the glare of sunlight in the cabin interfering with the in-seat monitors or their hand held devices.
I would have enjoyed the scenery the Captain spoke of over the PA had the shades been usable.
On overnight flights it may be a mute point with pitch darkness outside, but passengers don't want to have sunlight streaming in their face early in the morning. A odd balance when the rude cabin lights are turned on to serve a morning meal, but the sunlight of a new day is not enjoyable to most.
On the return NRT-DFW 777 that departed in the early evening no mention of lowering the shades were made by the crew so not a standard operating procedure I assumed. My shade remained up the entire flight and my seatmate had no issue with light, dark, sunrise or clouds flashing by the window.
One veteran F/A told me "I don't care about the shades, but when I fly as a passenger I like the window and looking at anything since I rarely get to see much of anything but the cabin as a crewmember."
On a ORD-NRT daylight flight the windows were dimmed the entire flight within 20 minutes of takeoff and about 15 minutes prior to landing NRT.
On daylight flights I don't see why to do it until meal service is complete, although F/A's did report complaints from passengers who don't like the glare of sunlight in the cabin interfering with the in-seat monitors or their hand held devices.
I would have enjoyed the scenery the Captain spoke of over the PA had the shades been usable.
On overnight flights it may be a mute point with pitch darkness outside, but passengers don't want to have sunlight streaming in their face early in the morning. A odd balance when the rude cabin lights are turned on to serve a morning meal, but the sunlight of a new day is not enjoyable to most.
On the return NRT-DFW 777 that departed in the early evening no mention of lowering the shades were made by the crew so not a standard operating procedure I assumed. My shade remained up the entire flight and my seatmate had no issue with light, dark, sunrise or clouds flashing by the window.
One veteran F/A told me "I don't care about the shades, but when I fly as a passenger I like the window and looking at anything since I rarely get to see much of anything but the cabin as a crewmember."
-
- BritTraveller
- Posts: 81
- Joined:
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
Yeah, But our flight was at 12;00, hmm I'll never know. Also I remember now, the windows were also dimmed for boarding in LHR and disembarkation at IAD which I do not get at all.
-
- LostLuggage
- Posts: 66
- Joined:
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
I'm yet to fly on a 787 and its infamous dimming windows, but this was something I suspected would happen once crews got complete control of the cabin's windows with the push of a button.
That said, the same happened to me earlier this year when flying TK IST-IAD on an A330 with conventional blinds. 11 hours of daytime flying and we were instructed (not asked) to keep them down for at least 70% of the time. I'd have been gutted to miss out on the views of Greenland if we'd taken a more normal, northerly route that day. I can understand the reasoning behind it, both on the passengers and crew's part, but it's not something I'm in favour of.
That said, the same happened to me earlier this year when flying TK IST-IAD on an A330 with conventional blinds. 11 hours of daytime flying and we were instructed (not asked) to keep them down for at least 70% of the time. I'd have been gutted to miss out on the views of Greenland if we'd taken a more normal, northerly route that day. I can understand the reasoning behind it, both on the passengers and crew's part, but it's not something I'm in favour of.
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
I just flew an AA 789 DFW-ICN last week. 14.5 hours, generally all daylight... except our specific flight had a couple hours of darkness near the North Pole (we went wayyyy north to avoid headwinds). The windows were dimmed after meal service about an hour in, but we could still control them. But only a few people had them bright. Once we started heading south and came back into the light over Russia, all the windows were dimmed beyond our control until about 20 minutes from touchdown.
Now I have heard rumors that some airlines require the shades drawn while overflying Russia, is this actually true?
Now I have heard rumors that some airlines require the shades drawn while overflying Russia, is this actually true?
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
The very reason I have no desire to fly on a 787
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
vhtje wrote:My view is that it is often done at the convenience of the cabin crew. Asleep passengers are quiet, non-demanding passengers. Ergo, the modus operandi of the crew on many long haul flights is to get 'em fed and watered then off to sleep ASAP. So cabin lights are dimmed and shades drawn soon after meal service. Does not seem to matter if it is a night time or a daytime flight. Seeing how difficult and demanding some passengers can be, I cannot say I blame the crew.
I have noticed (on BA at least) that the cabin lights are lit differently between cabins. I do not just mean colours (although they can differ also) - the schedule for dimming/raising the lights differs. I have seen the J cabin in complete darkness whilst the Y cabin is fully lit. I assume that is something to do with the cabin service taking longer in Y over J cabins?
Apart from company standards, passengers themselves prefer quiet cabins on longer flights, it's better to relax, work or watch a film and this means shades down. Don't go thinking that passengers fall asleep on demand like a bird with a covered cage, and don't think people will stop asking for anything they want just because the shades are down...
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
I always prefer dark cabin regardless of time of day.
Dark cabin allows one to properly enjoy IFE better, or a must do activity for me on a longhaul is to rest and to catch up on sleep.
Dark cabin allows one to properly enjoy IFE better, or a must do activity for me on a longhaul is to rest and to catch up on sleep.
-
- spacecadet
- Posts: 3678
- Joined:
Re: Dimmed Cabin During Day?
This doesn't generally happen on short domestic flights but it always happens on long-haul flights that I've been on. Flying from New York to Japan, you leave at 10AM and you're in daylight basically the entire way but they close the shades shortly after takeoff.
I generally agree with the practice. If I'm in a window seat, I do sometimes pull up the shade to see where we are/what the weather is outside. But I put it back down quickly, because it's obvious how annoying it is to everybody else. When somebody else does it, it's very distracting if you're trying to watch a movie, get some work done or sleep, none of which are easy when all the shades are open and everybody's milling around as if they're at a party. Given that the vast majority of the cabin is *not* window seats, I think it's fine to keep the overall cabin darkened.
I generally agree with the practice. If I'm in a window seat, I do sometimes pull up the shade to see where we are/what the weather is outside. But I put it back down quickly, because it's obvious how annoying it is to everybody else. When somebody else does it, it's very distracting if you're trying to watch a movie, get some work done or sleep, none of which are easy when all the shades are open and everybody's milling around as if they're at a party. Given that the vast majority of the cabin is *not* window seats, I think it's fine to keep the overall cabin darkened.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 42 guests