Day Flights where crew insisted window blinds are shut?

[sngallai]

Recently flew to India on two day time flights. One leaving around 8am and the other leaving 2pm local time.

On both legs of the trip, the cabin crew insisted we have the window blinds down/closed. It was a 787 so not a manual shutter.

I needed to work and couldn't see properly with the horrible white light spotlight but crew insisted it's so people can sleep. I said it's the middle of the day and the stewardess just shrugged at me.

Has anyone else ever seen this? I've never ever had a full 8 hour flight in the dark

On klm schipol to rio we had lunch after departure and a snack before arrival. And midway through we had chips with mayonnaise and were supposed to have our blinds down. We left about 1pm and were in our hotel about midnight (had been up since 3 am local time to fly to Amsterdam).
There didn't seem a particular time to have a proper sleep. Just a doze.

Yes ! It’s mad. I was told off on a Delta airlines flight going from London to SLC… for trying to look out of the window. I’d never known this before when it’s daytime in the country you’re leaving and the one you’re arriving into. I did wonder if it gives the crew an easier time.

I know if you look this up using wiki/AI you'll find some definitions about flight lengths and what pigeon hole they fall into but they're fairly arbitrary.

Things are changing slightly with the introduction of more single aisle long range types but traditionally UK/Europe <>US eastern seaboard has been served by airlines using Longhaul aircraft types crewed by their Longhaul crew cohort (at those airlines who have crews dedicated to Longhaul). As a result even those routes are still generally regarded as being Longhaul.

It depends. New York or Boston are not long haul but anywhere on the west coast maybe.

So LHR-BOS on a A380 automatically isn't Long Haul, similarly JFK-LHR on a 787?

I really don't know why some insist on pigeon holing flights into categories like this but do I know some love the idea they've done "Ultra Longhaul" so maybe it's associated with that thinking..

I know some on-line sources insist Longhaul starts at 6 hours, ultra at 14....but that's on-line.

In the real world a Longhaul crew looking at a mid-winter with the jet stream fast BOS-LHR, of say 5 hrs 55 min gate to gate don't turn round at briefing and say "OK folks, we are shorthaul tonight".

Similarly a Longhaul crew looking at a mid-winter against the jetstreams SIN-LHR that could be > 14 hours don't suddenly start thinking "ah, get the books out, we're ultra longhaul on this one .."

Most places they'd be operating both sectors under Longhaul rules and procedures.

FWIW and as a BTW the seemingly much loved Ultra category, when relevant, is nothing to do with passengers, it to do with crew rest and scheduling

I reckon one of the metrics worth considering as a passenger, if you have to use labels:

Time to watch one average feature length film or less: Shorthaul.

Time to watch one, maybe two films - long shorthaul drifting towards short Longhaul.

Time to watch two films or more - Longhaul.

Anything else is really mainly something for the schedulers (e.g. Ultra) and accountants (e.g. Mid-haul) to concern themselves with.

I’ve had this several times it’s so annoying.

Surely if it’s daytime at your departure point and destination then it should be daylight in the cabin. It definitely makes air sickness and jet leg worse. We had specifically chosen a day flight for this reason so was even more annoying.

Cabin crew told me everyone can choose to have their personal light on if they don’t want to sleep. They could also use the airline provided eye mask!

Im sure its to make the cabin crew job easier but makes for a very uncomfortable flight. I actually complained to BA and they sent me a £40 voucher. I didn’t want a voucher I wanted to understand why we had to sit in darkness!!

@hellobaby24

Surely if it’s daytime at your departure point and destination then it should be daylight in the cabin

So you're leaving London on a summer evening departure so daylight.

You head east, heading for, say, Singapore....where it will be late PM but daylight on arrival.

However about an hour after take-off it will be dark outside the aircraft...maybe << 5 hours after take-off it will be daylight again outside but early AM London time..

What's your plan with the blinds?

We flew AA to Los Angeles in April last year, our flight was 5pm so 9am US time and the crew made everyone pull the blinds down. I hated it as I usually spend a lot of time looking out of the window.

I had this on a flight back to the uk from Zambia flew with BA. We had breakfast and then it was almost like they put us in night mode. 10 hour flight and the only thing they had for lunch was pot noodle. It was ridiculous because had been up early to get to the airport and check in and stuff so was wide awake.

Think it was because the same crew had been on the night flight the night before and it was a quick change around. And the crew needed a break.

I would absolutely hate this and refuse to shut my blind. If I’ve selected a window seat it’s because I want to look out of the window!

On a lot of longhaul flights now it’s a virtual blind that can be controlled centrally. They just shut off your ability to change the dimmer on your window for most of the flight. The OP was on an aircraft where it was one of those virtual blinds, not a physical shutter that you could even try to refuse to close.

I had a real blind half down but apparently I was supposed to have it completely down. I followed the map on screen and wanted to see the coast.
The people in front were reclined even when snacks were served. I thought cabin staff would have asked them to sit up.

For info and as I recall it Lusaka would normally have been at least a night stop for the crew, so about 24 hours on the ground for them, they certainly wouldn't have flown down, turned and returned to London on the same aircraft.

This is very common, they want people to go to sleep, makes cabin crew job easier.

when we last flew long haul last Xmas I asked for a second wine and the lady said sure but we might not have enough at dinner serving so you may need to go without then, I was like fine, it was a day time flight,

in the way back, the crew were chucking drinks at people, saying do you want two, someone asked why so generous and she laughed and said it’s as we hope it will send you all to sleep.

I completely understand your wish to look out of the window but as a top tip I wouldn't recommend getting into an argument with the crew over this.

TBH it would be interesting to get input on this from from someone who is or has worked as Longhaul Cabin crew.

Oh I mean I wouldn’t let it escalate to the point they duck taped me to a chair but I’d be very upset.

It was the case on this flight. I flew on the equivalent flight on the way out and you literally saw it land. Quick clean and off again. This was a fair few years ago now.

However it was done the crew will not have done London-Lusaka-London as one duty, that would be way outside duty limits.

Normal process would be that the aircraft came in from London, was turned and headed back with you onboard..but while it was on the ground the inbound crew would have got off and headed for a hotel, the crew who arrived the previous day and nightstopped would have replaced them to operate the sector back.

ETA - it wasn't done as a shuttle through Harare was it, that was an option with BA many many years ago, with a crew change in HRE?

at the time there was only one flight a week. So they wouldn’t have wanted crew there for the entire week. I think they were short staffed or something. You could tell it wasn’t the norm but needs must. It was a strange flight. Like they weren’t fully stocked for food.

What the company wants with regard to crew laying over and what the rules allow are two different things.

Sorry to appear awkward but crews can't operate London-Lusaka-London in a single duty period...even the likes of Nairobi, Lagos or Abuja demand a crew change ex-London and they are much further north

When was involved in flying around that part of the world the BA flights to Lusaka often used to go via Harare (both ways) with a crew change either in HRE or LUN, and yes, there were some very long layovers for crew either in HRE or LUN as a result.

It all changed as politics shifted and HRE dropped off the network, but even a dedicated BA to/from LUN (don't known if that happened) would have required a crew change.

It's very common in Longhaul to have quick turns for the aircraft but also facilitate a crew change, and it's not always obvious to the passengers.

We were staying in the same hotel as our crew so they certainly weren't flying back.
Sao Paulo to Paris with Air France let me look out until it was dark outside .