A / C Window blinds

[Noah Zark.]

Can you help please? I am not employed in the sphere of aviation, although I am an enthusiast of many years standing.
On my last two commercial flights (U.K. based operators) part of the pre-landing brief for passengers was to "ensure that the window blinds were in the open position".
Can someone in the industry tell me why this is, please? Thank you.

[Xenia]

Generally speaking all window blinds should be open, both for take off and landing, during the day and during the night.
With the window blinds open many things come into the game ... both cabin crew and pax see what is going on outside, in normal operations or during an emergency landing/evacuation.
Also it will allow everybody's eyes to adapt to the exterior lighting ... just in case of any "unexpected events"
Have to say that not all countries adopt the same procedures, and even different airlines in the same country may adopt different procedures.
Happy landings to all, and next time ... remember your window blinds open during T/O and landing, is worth it not only for the views you might get :p
Saying so as you know I am based in wonderful Venice, the scenario you get during those two phases of the flight are without any doubt delightful, so everyone is admiring it!!! ... can't remember when was the last time I ask someone to open a window blind now that we talk about it :cool:

[MerchantVenturer]

A couple of supplementary questions if I may, and thanks for the replies from within the industry so far that, although I did not ask the original question, I found interesting and instructive.

1. Many airlines dim cabin lights on take-off and landing at night. Is this so that eyes are already adjusted to the level of emergency lighting should an incident occur?

2. On overnight flights from the USA/Canada if I am seated next to the window, which is always my aim, I like to have the blinds up so I can look out. Even if it is pitch black outside I much prefer this to inflight entertainment and I cannot sleep on an aircraft. Am I ever likely to be told by cabin crew to close the blind for the sake of the majority of passengers who seem to close the blinds at night? It hasn't happened yet but I wonder what airlines' policies/cabin crew reactions are to this.

[GwynM]

I've been asked (well, told) to put the window blind down on a long sector (LHR-Singapore) when all I wanted to do was look at the stunning views below in broad daylight. There wasn't even the excuse of light bothering other passengers as I was on the left side (north side).

The reason given was that people wanted to sleep, and the light was disturbing them. What this meant was that pasengers got to Singapore at 4.30 in the afternoon, just as their body clocks wanted breakfast.

The reason I wanted the window blind open is that I have the idea that if you sleep when it's dark outside and are awake when it's light, the the sleep patterns are much less disrupted. Hence the request for a window seat, no point if you're not allowed to look out.

[Groundgripper]

GwynM

I was also quite abruptly requested to put the blind down on a flight which left Beijing at 1000 local time and arrived at Heathrow at 1500 local. OK, it was on the south side of the aircraft, but nobody had complained to me. I kept it open until I had finished taking photos - still no complaints!

[White Shadow]

Glad the blind was there, on my flight back to UK from Tenerife on Friday.
Brand new Airbus (second passenger flight). Lovely aircraft, BUT, hideous Mytravel Airways colour scheme painted the engines dazzling orange-red - impossible for window seat passengers near the engines to see anything past the painful glare of the paintwork in the sunlight...
WHY do the rebranding experts make such a hash of things nowadays?
Bring back Airtours!
WS

[PAXboy]

White Shadow? :D

I am a window person. I need to get some sense of travel, rather than just departing and arriving.

When told to put the window blind down, I creep it up from the bottom and, when I want to look out, hunch over it to obscure the light from others. When sitting back in my seat, I just nudge it up, so that there is a narrow stream of light coming in.

After some time, when the neighbours are asleep - I creep it up some more!!

It is alwasy good when they put the cabin lights out for t/o or landing, so that you can get a good night time view of whatever is out of the window. Even cloud is good!

So - power to your elbow, Noah, join the revolution. :p

[bealine]

I quite agree PAXBoy! I tend to feel quite claustrophobic when the "deadlights" are dropped!

Coming back from Johannesburg a couple of years ago at 36,000 feet, as we traversed Botswana at night, there was a spectacular thunderstorm going on thousands of feet below - something I had never before experienced! Bealine would have been most "dis-chuffed" if he'd been asked to close his deadlight just then, I can tell you!

;)

[PAXboy]

I know exactly what you mean about thunderstorms!

Riding back from JNB three weeks ago, there were storms for many hundreds of miles. Dreamy.

[atco-matic]

There's always one isnt there! On every longhaul east bound theres one irritating @~+*?" who insists on disturbing the majority of pax who are trying to sleep by having the window blind open when everybody's body clocks are saying its sleep time! I don't care about what i should do; I care about the fact that my body says its 2am and I'm completely knackered despite the fact its sunny outside. Travelling in the dark with the blinds open is only marginally better because then the daylight is replaced with the cabin being lit up by the flashing anti- crash light.

Flying long haul isn't the most enjoyable experience in the world, and getting a few hours kip is the best way of getting through it, but hey as long as you can see out of the window, stuff the rest of us!

[MerchantVenturer]

Well, lucky you atco-matic that you are able to sleep on an aeroplane.

There are some unfortunates who cannot; furthermore there is a minority of claustrophobics who need the feel of extra space that an unshuttered window brings. My wife happens to be one. I suppose your response would be that she should never travel by air in case it happens to affect your comfort in some small way.

I hope you enjoy your kips at 30,000 feet - perhaps occasionally you might just think of others who are not able to, for various reasons.

[GwynM]

acto-matic
so you land in the evening after a good few hours kip? It's OK, but then it gets to night, and you're raring to go as your body clock says it's early morning, so you've got a problem.

Alternatively, sleep (if you can) when it's dark outside, be awake when it's light outside, and the body clock resets itself a lot quicker. Well, it works for me.

If the light causes such a problem, wear an eye mask.:cool: , and don't rant :( at those who appreciate the views from the windows

[PAXboy]

Just to show how everything has an equal and opposite ...Flying long haul isn't the most enjoyable experience in the world, and getting a few hours kip is the best way of getting through it
Flying long haul is the most enjoyable experience in the world, and I always feel cheated if my body takes a few hours kip. Last Friday, I was on the daylight from JFK to LHR and wanted to enjoy the day but had had a very busy few days and did snooze for about two hours - most irritating!

:)

[Noah Zark.]

Hello Folks. Thank you all for your answers to my original question.
Now can you answer me this, please? Recently flying on a 737, sat just forward of the wing for a good gawp down, window blind up of course, I noticed a small strake, or fence, or what ever you might call it, on the inboard side of the engine nacelle, just offset by a small way from top centre, towards the fuselage.
Can anyone tell me the purpose of these?
Any answers gratefully received. Thanks.

[PAXboy]

I think you will find it is to take care of small 'eddies' of wind that would otherwise cause extra 'drag'. The intention is ensure that air flows past the aircraft as 'smoothly' as possible. If you think of watching a stream of water, you will know that even the smallest pebble can cause ripples and push the water flow. Air behaves in an almost identical way to water.

You will see similar things on the upper surface of wings - their size and position obviously varies with each aircraft type.

If you want an exact definition, look in the Technical Forum and you'll get the full answer.

[bealine]

stuff the rest of us!

No thank you! I'm happily married and there's a bloody good view out the window!

;)

[AnsettStar]

...aside from the emergency/evac reasons mentioned above, I think you'll find that aircraft designers put windows in planes so that pax have something to watch other than some God-awful inflight movie starring Britney Spears or the like. Can you imagine 300-plus bored pax on a long-haul from LHR-SYD??? Or perhaps the windows are there so that Special Forces can pick off terrorists/drunks/celebrities at their leisure? :D

Think about it. As someone else said, if you don't like the light, wear a mask. Or stick a blanket over your head. Not everyone sleeps on a plane (least of all me - especially jumpseating with the crew, sadly a thing of the past now.)

Have seen some absolute once-in-a-lifetime-views because I had my window shade up. And if people complain, I sneak it halfway up and shield the light with my body. No big deal. I have NEVER had a complaint. If did, I'd ask if they mind if I have the shade half-up half-down. Nothing like compromise. I want to know if I'm about to hit anything, or if the engine falls off. Can't beat first-hand information in the event of losing an engine. Who knows how many pax missed seeing smoke from an engine cos some prat made everyone shut the shades?

Somehow, I don't think you'll be worrying about adjusting your eyes if the a/c crashes! :p

Something to think about.

AN*

[SixStarAnsett]

I always like to have my window blind up so that I can see out. The early morning departure (around 6am) Winter flights around sunrise are really bwoodiefull, lol http://www.stopstart.freeserve.co.uk/smilie/nerd.gif

Have I ever been asked to put my window blind down? Twice, on different airlines. Once was on Korean Air (Feb 3 this year BNE-ICN) when the movie was starting about 2 am. And the other time was on Ansett on a 767 arriving into Melbourne...we had just landed and the setting sun was coming in, blinding my seat companion...

SixStar

[Noah Zark.]

Whilst still on about window blinds, I've just watched a prog. on the box about "life at Heathrow", and the guy who is the ground handling agent for Qantas was doing his rounds on a 747 to make sure that everything was tickety-boo before the SLF came onboard, and he commented that the window blinds in the toilets are always in the closed position "as if anyone was going to be looking in at 34,000ft." he said with a chortle.
Quite so.

[MerchantVenturer]

Noah Zark,

It might expedite matters if one was seated on the throne looking out and suddenly saw a US fighter aircraft come alongside at 34,000 feet.

An extra roll of paper might be called for.:D

[Mike Blackburn]

I feel very strongly about the window issue, and I have discovered a new breed of traveller. This is the person who requests a window seat, and then keeps the blind shut for the whole flight.

I flew DXB - JNB a few weeks ago, and since I was connecting from MCT through Dubai, I was too late to request a window seat. I then asked for the B seat in the A330, and ended up next to a chap who admitted requesting the window seat. He then kept the blind down the whole flight, from about 20min after takeoff to about 10 min before landing! The flight was in daylight the whole way, 09h00 - 16h00 local times, and as a result of my neighbour's decision re the blind, I missed seeing the tops of a tropical storm in the Mozambique channel!

Why do people ask for a seat by the window if they have no intention of looking out of it?

[PAXboy]

Yes MB, I agree!!!

I had one of these on my last LHR--JFK in Y. I was in the B seat and hoping to see something of the world, or simply daylight.

He pulled the blind down, hunched against the wall and slept most of the way. They seem to request the window to sleep. I only request the window to look out of the bleedin' thing! . :mad:

By the way, MB, I see it's your first post - so welcome aboard. We're a fairly well behaved bunch back here but just wait until someone mentions the quality of airline tea ... ;)

[curmudgeon]

Aaaarrrrgggghhh ......

I thought that I was alone in wanting to keep the blind up, until I discovered this thread. Should we all travel with a little tube of superglue, and practice the innocent expression whilst saying "I'm sorry Miss but it seems to be stuck!"

But the only thing that I really need is some device or drug that prevents the great quantities of beer that I drink being processed into my rather small bladder at 35,000 feet.

cur

[Pax Vobiscum]

Sleepers in the window seat irritate me, too. I guess they select it in order to minimise disturbance, but in a wide-body why not go for a central seat?

So far we seem to be about 9-1 in favour of blinds up. Maybe we can persuade some companies to change their policy!

Does anyone feel that a seatback video screen with an electronic 'view' is an acceptable substitute (it's certainly better than nothing)? I seem to remember reading that Airbus & Boeing have estimated that removing windows in the cabin would save $10M on the cost of an airliner, but that PAX would never wear it.

[Mike Blackburn]

I don't think that the seatback video feed is an alternative to the Mk I human eyeball looking out of the window.

When I flew EK their A330 had the forward and downward looking cameras, which were really cool on t/o and landing, but at altitude they really did not help much. The plasma/lcd screen does not really get any kind of detail looking forward at FL410, and a downward view does not mean much if you can't put it into context by looking down from a window....

So I guess, in my book the score is Window seat 1 - Seatback camera 0....

[PAXboy]

I have heard this point - that pax would not stomach the removal of the windows. TOO D@MM RIGHT!!!! :*

I think the other reason that people ask for the window is the perceived extra space. I say perceived because you cannot spend all the time, slumped over to the side and draped over the arm rest.

I have not yet been on a machine that displays the external cameras on the seat back screens. Soon, I hope. I find it irritating that the SkyMap systems are only turned on ten or 15 minutes into the flight and usually turned off a few minutes before landing.

[Tinstaafl]

If you can't spread across a couple of seats then the window seat is the best one for sleeping. You can lean agains the wall, unlike every other seat where you have to ensure you don't fall to one side or the other.

As it happens I like to look out while I'm awake, but I also like to keep my sleep/wake cycle to my final destination's timezone.

I'd rather jump across the middle & isle seat pax. on the occasions when I need to and sleep relatively undisturbed or view the scenery when I wish.

[Noah Zark.]

So it seems the majority of replies are in favour of blinds up, then. Now we ought to petition the carriers to introduce a Blinds up / Blinds down seating system as in the days of yore when it was "Smoking or no smoking, Sir / Madam?"
Whilst the thread meanders towards external cameras, I came back from Dubai to H/Row on an Emirates 777 a couple of years ago, which had two cameras, one looking vertically down, the other in the nose, which displayed in the seat back vid. screen, and the Captain was a Top Wallah, he kept the cameras on right up to the gate at the terminal.
It was a cracking view from the nose camera on final and landing. If there had been a set of controls at my seat, I could have probably lent a hand with the landing! (There again, perhaps not!)

[under_exposed]

I think you guys are being a bit harsh on atco-matic. Maybe he has to sleep. There have been a couple of times I have Done JFK-LHR where I have left the US office 4PM EST to be in the UK office 9AM GMT and its difficult to do 2 days work without sleep between them.
It does appear that the majority here are keen on the blinds open but considering the nature of this site that is only to be expected. I have been in BA business class from SEA-LHR with no one in the compartment intrested in the blinds being open and almost all asleep.
Having said that I did not need to go to work after the SEA-LHR flight so ended up sat on the floor by the main door looking out the window and chatting to the stewardesses as I like looking out too - problem solved.

[PAXboy]

under-ex what a very good excuse fopr chatting to the cabin crew, "The blinds are all down, so I have to sit with you." Good plan. ;)