An unreserved apology
TightSlot
You are quite right, you and others deserve an unreserved apology. The deep frustration felt by me (and it would appear others) was put in the most unwarranted terms for which I apologise.
Hartington
I agree. This does need sorting out. I flew Asiana last September Sydney - Seoul. A day time flight during which the cc wanted the shades down all 10 hours or so. This being a flight where the only time zone change was going back one hour! Whilst my previous post may have given the impression that I'm rude to cc, in fact I'm not, I simply don't tolerate being told what to do where safety or good running of the system is not an issue. All these airlines in question provide the eye pads for those that wish to snooze on a day flight. I notice that not one North American carrier has ever asked for the shades to be pulled down. Those I've flown include TWA, Pan Am, American, United, US Air, North West, Delta, Continental and Air Canada. But the far eastern carriers are obsessed with it eg Thai, Asiana, SIA, JAL but strangely not MAS. I have found BA to be intermittent, never long haul out of LGW but occasionally out of LHR, but never into either airport on day flights. QF never ask for it to be pulled down except when going to sleep on a night flight, obviously so people are not disturbed when dawn comes up if it does.
I agree that airlines should make it clear that a window seat is not a window seat when they allocate it.