Curious as to why WestJet does this

[RT787]

I noticed on all of their 737s that they have this black paint below the wind screen while no other airline has it. Anyone have an idea why WJA does this?

[B-HKD]

Protects against sun glare. There is paint types that prevent/reduce the glare, however I assume that Westjet simply prefers to use black as it gets the job done.

[RT787]

Ok that's what I was thinking. I always thought it looked weird compared to other 737s though.

[ruddman]

Bit of a thing because much evidence shows if doesn't really do much. Only really see it done in American sports. Especially 'football'.

I say 'football' because they wear pads and helmets. Which is like...er....ga....

[DaveReidUK]

Years ago they were much more common, but appear to have fallen out of favour:

[misd-agin]

It's almost impossible to see the fuselage skin in front of the airplane while sitting in a pilot seat so any reflection is minor or non-existent.

[awblain]

It's not direct light into the pilots' eyes that it's aimed at, but light bathing muck on the windows, and reflecting around in the windows.

However, whenever there's strong reflection, there's already direct sunlight around to play on the windows, and so it's not likely to be a major effect, but it certainly does no harm.