Fellow lovers of the #windowseat, I’ve got some news. The decision to have the shade up or down may not be entirely yours.  Even I write these words the subject is achieving virality. This is due to a video posted online and a report on the aviation aficionados’ news website, View From The Wing.

The story begins with a selfie video posted to Instagram . It is the as-it-happened-account @ohhhnyny but let’s caller her, Ms. Window Seat. In the video she is being debriefed by a flight attendant who reportedly removed her from the plane for not raising the shade to accommodate the request of her next-seat-over neighbor, who I will identify as Ms. Middle Seat.

Reportedly, tears ensued at the impasse between the women.  The dry-eyed Ms. Window Seat, was as unmoved as the window covering.

“All of her tears and all of her complaining, and however entitled she feels, none of that has anything to do with me,” she said to the camera.

The event seems to have happened during boarding and whether flight attendants were there early on to lower tempers, is not known. Delta Air Lines was unable to provide any information about the fracas by the end of the day Thursday. But both travelers were reportedly asked to get off the plane when boarding was finished.

Well the world is full of opinions about who has control of the up or the down of the shade. I’d like to think “my seat, my view” and I am not alone. However, I know it can’t and shouldn’t be that way all of the time. Window shades should always be up during three phases of flight, takeoff, landing, and taxiing. Here’s why.

Situational awareness is crucial

At Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport day or night, there’s no room for discussion. Window shades must be up so that air travelers are aware of their surroundings during these, the riskiest times of any commercial flight. “If the aircraft needs to be evacuated, you can see which side is safe to disembark from. Whether it’s dark outside or blinding sunlight. It’s for your own safety,” reads the airport advisory.

On August 24th, an Airbus A350 airliner operated by French Bee, was pulling out of the gate at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport when it struck and killed Oscar Robayo, a ramp worker who had fallen in its path. Some passengers saw the event unfolding but there was not enough time to alert the pilots. Perhaps their eyes on the ramp might have been effective in different circumstances.

In case of an emergency evacuation, it is important for travelers to know what’s going on just outside the airplane. In Chicago on Wednesday, and several other times this month, airplanes blew tires while taxiing. Passengers had to be evacuated on the airfield. It’s August, so thankfully they were not stepping off planes into a Chicago winter.  No such luck for the Delta passengers forced to flee the plane when it flipped over on landing in Toronto in February 2025.

An evacuation on the runway in April in Pittsburgh, another in Denver, and one the apron in Hong Kong in May. These are far from all of those that occurred so far this year. Passengers should know what to expect stepping or sliding off the plane. Even so, many countries to not regulate shade position, including here in the United States.

For generations, engineers and human factor specialists have studied and made recommendations that have increased the likelihood that you will survive an air accident. Their work led to strengthened cabins that resist penetration from engines and seats that can withstand 16 times the force of gravity. Interiors that resist fire and the release of toxic smoke. On impact, items around your seat are designed to protect your head so you can think and your limbs so you can run.

As a result, more than 90-percent of all air accidents have survivors. Passengers’ awareness of their surroundings before, during and after an unhappy landing is the last link in the survival chain.

So while we don’t know all the details of the shade up / shade down feud, perhaps we can all follow the example of the recently deceased singer songwriter, Dolly Parton. She was a woman so widely beloved, The New York Times once posted this headline.

For safety’s sake, can we all agree on keeping the shade up for takeoff, landing and taxi, no matter who is in the window seat?

Once you start looking at that view, you might just keep it up for the duration of the flight. Or not. Window seater, you be you.

More on why shades up matter from MenTour pilot