Flyer refuses to shut window shade, sparking plane etiquette debate: ‘People only care about themselves’

There’s an unspoken rule when flying that those who sit in the window seat control the shade.

Yet one flyer who refused to help her fellow plane passenger, who was blinded by the sun and kindly asked her to lower it, has sparked a debate over plane etiquette.

This situation was explained by a woman named Kelly Meng in a TikTok video with over 200,000 views. “Let me tell you a personal story that just happened to me and it’s actually genuinely crazy.”

Meng explained how she was recently on a flight from Chicago to Tokyo that had three rows with three seats each.

“Only two of those seats, the far left and the far right, have access to the windows and on the new planes, it’s not like a traditional shutter, it’s one of those digital dimmers. Where it’s dark but light still gets in because it can’t be 100% opaque,” the content creator said.

According to Meng, the entire flight was sunny because of the timing of the flight and because it flew over the Arctic. After meals were served and the majority of the flight was trying to sleep, a guy seated at the end of the middle row asked if the passenger in the window seat could lower the shade because of how intensely the sun was hitting him.

“Not a single other window is not 100% dark. There’s direct sunlight coming in from our window,” Meng said, which was blinding the poor guy trying to get some sleep. The window seat flyer barely dimmed her window after being kindly asked to.

The story gets worse.

After the flight attendant approached the woman, saying they’ve gotten complaints from other passengers about her sun-drenched window, she dared to reply, “I’m not turning it down any lower, it’s at 75%…. It’s basically dark.”

Meng put it perfectly: “The lack of self-awareness is insane.”

If you’re not fired up from reading about this situation, the commenters on the video sure were.

Some agreed with the window seat passenger, standing her ground.

“I 100% understand the annoyance. But imo whomever pays for and sits in the window seat gets control of the window.”

“If you have a window shade preference, book a window seat.”

“Unpopular opinion, but bring an eye mask if it’s going to bug you. I totally see your point in this particular case, but I like to have my window open on shorter flights – especially if we’re flying over somewhere scenic.”

While others wholeheartedly agreed she was in the wrong.

“I don’t think people realize that having the shades open during day time flights is not only blinding, but it also makes the cabin HOT. Especially if you’ve got the sun directly beaming on you. But as we know, and these comments confirm, people only care about themselves anymore.”

“People gotta stop asking, especially the attendant. the passenger should have been given a clear directive to follow, no discussion.”

“I thought it was a courtesy if the sun is beaming through to close it. if sun is not on your side you can keep it open.”

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