to keep my flap up during a flight

[flamingnoravera]

I've just landed from a 13 hour daytime all the way flight from China. We flew over China. Mongolia, Russia etc and the scenery below was breathtaking as it was clear.
However, I was apparently, one of those passengers, because, having booked a window set to look out, I refused to pull the blind down until after lunch, some 4 hours in.
Fellow passengers were huffing and blowing but that just made me more steely resolved. It was a daytime flight, them wanting to sleep meant they needed to wear the slumber shades provided (no-one seemed to bother).
WIBU to keep it open to see the mountains?

I hardly ever recline my seat, but that's because I'm short.

What I really hate is tall people sitting in front of me at the pictures. Can't they shuffle down a bit in their seats?

I've started to bring a cashmere booster cushion.

YANBU. I love being able to see out of the window and it helps me relax and my bearings as I can see where we are in relation to the ground. The last time I flew I was in the middle seat and the guy next to me pulled the blind down without saying anything as soon as we took off. It was rubbish. I didn't say anything as he was the one in the window seat, but it would've been nice for him to at least check that I and the passenger on the other side of me would be OK with it down.

It's not even as if it can only be 'up' or 'down' - you can compromise and have it part way if the sun is bothering one person but another person wants to see the view.

I paid £250 to take my children to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" two years ago. A family of three of the biggest people I have ever come across sat in front of us, the woman had huge curly hair too. The child (aged about 10, got up and down repeatedly during the performance moving to each parent's lap, thus making that particular obstruction bigger each time. I was almost in tears of fury by the interval but what can you do?

I bet it was a wig Nicki.

It was less money than you but just as frustrating when I paid £20 to see Spectre at 9am on a Saturday morning.

I didn't book my seat until Friday evening and it was in the centre stalls with three clear seats in front of me. Everywhere else was packed.

I thought that no one would take those single seats in front of me at that late stage.

When I sat down, all looked good.

No. The three bastards all shuffled in with popcorn at the last minute.

They were huge and they fidgeted throughout the entire film so I couldn't win. Every time one moved and I shifted, another one moved.

Popcorn at 9am? It shouldn't be allowed.

But if you say: 'Do you mind if I close the blind?' and the other person says: 'yes', what do you do?

Your bearings from the ground are about 30,000ft.

Zing you are sounding very strange indeed.

DH is a frequent flyer, but can't sleep on planes at all. Does that mean the entire aviation industry is an instrument of torture and evil, because they deprive him of his sleep? Or does he just accept it as a personal quirk and get on with life?

Zing- the plane is not a giant bedroom for daytime sleepers.

limitedperiodonly If they say they don't want it closed and you do, then I guess you'd continue the conversation to negotiate a way for both parties to be happy - have it half open, or have it open half the flight, or whatever.

And yes I know the altitude is 30,000ft - but if the plane is rotating or you're experiencing turbulence, it's reassuring to see where the ground is in relation to the nose!

I was being facetious Mackerel Yes, you negotiate in shared spaces, don't you? But sometimes I know that some people aren't going to be up for negotiation.

I try to book the window seat because I like to lean on a wall, not a stranger. I don't slam the shutter down on boarding and sometimes I stare at the ground.

But if the glare was too much, I'd shut it half or even all the way. And if someone was looming over me to peer out of the window, I'd give them a bit of a hard stare, shut it with a slam and pull my blankie over my head.

I am very much enjoying Zing's ravings.

On my own, I usually book an aisle seat. I've found the trade off between no window/lean .v. being able to get up wander round a no brainer. Were I flying over somewhere spectacular, I'd think about booking a window and having my flaps raised the entire time.

My husband prefers a window so flying together, I get a middle (or an aisle if we splash for a premium seat). I lean over him to look out with no comeback

And if someone was looming over me to peer out of the window, I'd give them a bit of a hard stare, shut it with a slam and pull my blankie over my head.

lovely.

MissBattleaxe what is your problem? Just book a window seat and goggle out of it to your heart's content. There are loads of them running up and down both sides of the plane.

I went aft

Is that the pointy end? Sorry, I'm not a seasoned traveller like you, OP.

It's the back end. Think of it in terms of "after".

Suddenly I'm reminded of that sequence in Cabin Pressure:

CAROLYN: All right. How many loudhailers are there in the aft cabinet?
ARTHUR: Okay. And ‘aft’ is the … one at the … front?
CAROLYN: Back.
ARTHUR: Back! Back! I meant back.
CAROLYN: The ‘fore’ comes before the ‘aft’ that comes after.
DOUGLAS: I haven’t heard that one before.
CAROLYN: Well, that’s because no-one but Arthur has ever needed a mnemonic for ‘fore’ and ‘aft’.

I try not to sleep on any sort of journey because (no doubt calumnious) rumour has it that when I sleep in an upright position I snore. Rather loudly. Fortunately I haven't yet had to take a 24 hour flight, if I did I suspect I'd have to stop half way and spend a night in a hotel.

MaidofStars I have a capacious bladder and can easily go eight hours without having to do a wee as long as I don't drink on the plane.

I usually travel with DH so our plan of action is Me: Window seat; DH: Middle Seat. Stranger: Aisle Seat.

I stare out of the window a bit then fall asleep. Sometimes this is against the wall, sometimes this is against him. There is no problem and dribble and snoring are the least of the things he's had to put up with from me.

After I've fallen asleep I have no idea what happens until the seatbelt signs come on and it goes bing-bong.

We got A1 and A2 once in Club. They were good.

Thanks for the aft tip gruntled. Even if I remain awake and so avoid snoring and dribbling, I silently fart. Pressure does that to your guts, doesn't it?

limited I always book a window seat. I just think its mean that you would book it and slam it down if anyone tried to look and you didn't want them to.

Daytime flight = light. If they want to sleep, buy a sleep mask to block it out.

MissBattleaxe do you understand the concept of the thing we Earthlings call a joke, or are you just trying my limitless patience?

There's something about flight etiquette that really gets people riled up

I was called "selfish" on a thread once for querying whether I should take only hand luggage on a two week holiday (washing facilities other end) as they couldn't stand to see other passengers "selfishly" packing their airline guideline sized hand luggage into the over head lockers taking up all the space. The airlines were fine with it but this particular poster deemed it selfish

Don't worry limited I got it and even smirked a little.

I took limited seriously too.

limited reason tall people can't hunch down is because they are already contending with too little leg space, sitting upright is the only way to fit your limbs in sometimes. Not to mention it's uncomfortable.

Not getting the angst myself, surely if people are bothered one way or another over the blind then they should just book a window seat? And if they cba to do that, it's tough shit if the person in the window seat doesn't have it open/closed according to your wish.

I realise that tall people can't help being tall and some people want to constantly check their baggage in the overhead locker or do exercises to ward off DVT.

Meanwhile I am listening to the ultimate zen track on the day of David Bowie's passing