A Delta Air Lines passenger says the woman beside her opened her window shade while she was in the lavatory, cried when she closed it again, and created such a ruckus that they both got taken off the plane.
- The woman in the window seat says she chooses it because she gets claustrophobic in a middle seat and nauseous looking outside. As the window seat passenger she can close the window!
- The passenger in the middle said that needed the shade open for her anxiety, especially during takeoff and landing.
The passenger in the middle seat began crying and complained to flight attendants. And the window seat passenger? She couldn’t care less.
All of her tears and all of her complaining, and however entitled she feels, none of that has anything to do with me. Her peace does not matter to me.
Crew had both women leave the aircraft and give their versions of events. But the basic rule here rule is simple: the passenger at the window controls the window shade.
- It’s still a good idea that they’ve open for takeoff and landing – the cabin is generally brighter and passengers have greater situational awareness during the most critical phases of flight.
- And flight attendants may trump the usual social norms on window seat control. Arguing over it tends to be couterproductive.
- The window seat passenger should still be considerate, avvoid shining bright light into the cabin on long haul flights when passengers are trying to sleep. Consider reasonable requests from those around you.
But passenger at the window controls the shade, the middle seat passenger gets both armrests, and the aisle passenger gets to spread out into the aisle and unobstructed access to the lavatory. And that simple rubric would have kept everyone onboard rather than pulling off both passengers.
Maybe the woman in the middle seat – if window access was that important to her – could have found a Coasian solution with another passenger? A few $20s might shake a window seat loose from someone in the cabin in a trade. Especially because non-monetary entreaties weren’t working – “Her peace doesn’t matter to me.”
This is one of the many reasons I fly first class.
Seems reasonable.
Yikes! How about the middle seat crier trade with another middle seat passenger in a nearby row who doesn’t have the same problem with the position of the window shade?
I would have opened my window for her.
There he goes, again… Gary pitchin’ the ole ‘Coasian solution.’ This guy…
Or maybe pay for a flipping window seat if that’s what you need.
People who snag the window seat, then slam the shade shut for the entire flight really annoy me. Go sit on the aisle then, rather than trying to make 11 am into 11 pm.
Meanwhile my window seat partner a few weeks ago opened the shade for me just because he saw I was trying to read (I didn’t even ask) despite the fact that he was trying to sleep. Tiny bit of kindness could’ve gone a long way here.
@ABC: don’t go trying to apply logic to a very American issue. It just doesn’t work.
Did she disobey a crew instruction? Isn’t this an IDB for the window passenger?