Crew Insider is our series of informative articles that answer some of the most common and less common questions about the aviation industry from the point of view of an industry insider. Our question answerer-in-chief is Mateusz Maszczynski, who has worked in the airline industry for nearly two decades and has honed his expertise in the field through this blog since 2015.
Why do flight attendants on some airlines ask you to raise your window shades for taxi, takeoff, and landing?
This is a question that comes up pretty regularly, and while it may seem like common practice in many parts of the world, travelers in the United States may be left scratching their heads in confusion as flight attendants for US-based carriers are more likely to ask you to keep your window shade closed for the duration of the flight.
The simple answer is that many airlines ask passengers to raise their window shades during so-called ‘critical phases’ of flight for safety reasons. If you’re wondering what the ‘critical phases’ of flight are, well, during taxi, takeoff, and landing, accidents are most likely to occur.
In the event of an emergency, every second counts, and the process of opening a jammed window shade could delay passengers seeing what is going on outside, such as a fire, smoke, or debris.
But ensuring that passengers can see what is going on outside the plane isn’t just about enhancing their situational awareness and allowing them to make informed choices about what they need to do to stay safe.
Flight attendants may have very limited vision of what is going on outside the aircraft from their vantage point in a jumpseat, so keeping all the window shades open also allows passengers to report back to the crew what they can see, which in turn can be relayed to the pilots.
Where and when the window shade rule came about is difficult to pinpoint, but a fiery incident aboard a British Airtours jet at Manchester Airport in 1985 has been described as a ‘defining moment in the history of civil aviation safety’ and led to numerous changes in airliner safety.
In that tragic incident, 55 passengers and crew perished after a turbine disc shattered during takeoff and punctured the wing fuel tanks. The pilots managed to stop the aircraft on the runway but the emergency evacuation was hampered by a faulty emergency slide, as well as issues with the overwing emergency exits.
Accident investigators made a series of recommendations to improve aircraft evacuations, and from then on, many airlines started to adopt the open window shade rule for taxi, takeoff, and landing.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is a specialized agency of the United Nations, recommends that window shades are open during critical phases of flight, and this recommendation has been adopted by many aviation regulators around the world.
The window shade recommendation isn’t, however, universally adopted and has sometimes been questioned by various airlines.
Back in 2017, Dutch flag carrier KLM told the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) that the window shade rule should be dropped from passenger safety briefing requirements because “no scientific evidence exists for the assumption that it is safer to have window blinds in the secured opened position for takeoff and landing.”
Europen aviation regulators dismissed KLM’s concerns, explaining: “Open window blinds during taxiing, take-off and landing enable both the cabin crew and the [passengers to see the outside conditions during the most critical stages of flight.”
“The fact they are open may be vital; a rapid action by cabin crew members or information from passengers on outside condition, which cabin crew may not be able to see from their crew, e.g. a flat tire, wing surface contamination, smoke/fire, e.g. on the engine, etc.”
Interestingly, while many aviation regulators require airlines to tell passengers to open their window shades during takeoff and landing, airlines don’t necessarily have to enforce this rule.
Having said that, airlines may have standard operating procedures to ensure that the passenger cabin is ‘secure’ for takeoff and landing, and ignoring the lawful request of a flight attendant could land you in hot water.
In other words, if you’re on a plane and the flight attendant asks you to open the window blind, then you’re legally duty-bound to do so.
Famously, however, the window shade recommendation never caught on in the United States and there are no federal rules that require passengers to open their window shades during takeoff and landing.
Back in early 2020, United Airlines did, however, start ‘encouraging’ passengers to open their window shades for takeoff and landing. Roughly two years later, the Chicago-based carrier ditched the policy.
In a memo to flight attendants, United Airlines said one of the main reasons it no longer tells passengers to open their window shades is because it was the only major US-carrier to do so.
The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), which represents crew members at United Airlines, has long campaigned for US-based airlines to mandate window shades be open for takeoff and landing and has called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make it a legal requirement.
Spirit requires all window shades open for take off and landing. It’s mandatory.
United now “encourages those in the exit row” to open their window shades for taxi/takeoff/landing.
I have noticed on some regional like Skywest they’ve removed the window shades from overwing exits period so there’s no closing it.
First thing I do when I sit down, even if the aisle and the window hasn’t yet arrived, is open the shades. I do not understand this behavior of if the shade is closed when they board, people think it has to remain closed the entire flight. On United yesterday and on two Delta flights three days ago, people next to me kept the shades closed the entire flight… but would raise one up like half way and peek outside then snap it shut. Multiple times. Whole cabin does this. It’s like a sensory deprivation chamber. I appreciated on my 3 Spirit flights this week that the shades had to at least go up for takeoff and landing. That usually helps people who get uneasy with motion as well.