Like the above poster I have been following this thread and the CC only thread as well. I fly out of what would be considered a very warm climate here at MCO. My airline of choice is Delta and when I get on the plane all the shades are down and the aircraft is on ground air as well as ground power. Are these not available at the wonderful Middle Eastern airports I hear so much about? The APU is shut down as soon as ground power and air are connected and this is normally before the door has been opened.
This whole issue of pulling down the shades being escalated to union involvement shows there are great cultural differences between the UK and the US.