It’s simply fascinating to see social norms develop in highly social situations.

Take riding the bus, for instance. As most buses have the seats situated in pairs, folks first gravitate towards the completely empty ones, and if there are none left, only then do they start populating the ‘second seats’. Because sitting alone is less awkward than next to a complete stranger.

But other social norms are not as clear-cut or obvious to some. Like who owns the window in a window seat on an airplane? Is it something all of the passengers in the aisle can control, or is it exclusively under the jurisdiction of the person in the window seat?

A conflict of interest (if you can call it a conflict per se) regarding a window seat happened not too long ago. It all ended in the conclusion that he who sat at the window shall be in control, but not without turning into an am I being unreasonable? situation first.

More Info: Reddit

Question time. Who’s in control of the window shade—the person in the window seat, or anyone in that row, or…?

Image credits: Tim Gouw (not the actual photo)

We got a short one for you folks.

A Redditor has not too long ago turned to the r/AITA community for some perspective on an issue he faced. In particular, OP enjoys watching the sky and everything around it while on a flight. For this reason, he goes out of his way to get a window seat. Plus the sunshine does wonders for the skin and just feels awesome.

So, OP was on a plane—one where the seats are situated in rows of 3—and as he approached, he noticed a lady already in one of the seats in his row. For context, his seat was the window one, the middle one was vacant, and the lady was in the seat adjacent to the walkway.

This guy recently had to deal with some snarkiness from a fellow passenger over a window shade after he politely refused to close it

Image credits: ExxoticD

As soon as he asked the lady to scooch a bit for a second so he could reach his seat, she sighed. Sounded like one of those sarcastic I hate it here sighs. OP wasn’t sure why, so he moved on with life.

Not even 10 minutes into the flight, OP was resting his head on the table that pulls down from the front seat, listening to music, enjoying the view and the sun, and the lady tapped him on shoulder and spoke up. She asked if he could shut the window shade.

Being the sky-gazer that he is, OP politely declined the offer, explaining that the whole reason he bought the window seat (mind you, this luxury cost him an extra $30) was so that he could look out the window. She let out an exaggerated sigh, a huge one.

Image credits: ExxoticD

Image credits: Jeffry Surianto (not the actual photo)

Now, it is understandable why she asked—OP explained it was a 7AM flight, and the morning sun was right there outside the window, raining hell on every vampire who failed to retreat into a coffin and irritating everyone who’s not a fan.

The whole confrontation ended in OP returning to his music and basking in solar glory for an entire 2 hours. But the lady’s dissatisfaction made him ponder his decision. His view was that he bought the window seat so that he could enjoy the view and all of its gifts. The lady could have done the same. This is besides him paying extra.

And so he passed this question onto the Am I The A-Hole community. And, for the most part, folks did not see anyone being a jerk. Sure, there was some tension, but nobody really overstepped the boundaries. OP was polite, the lady, albeit sarcastic, did not cause a ruckus or overreact. So, nobody’s a jerk.

Folks online were mostly of the opinion that nobody was a jerk in this situation because nobody really crossed any line

But it did raise the question of who’s actually in control of the window included in the “window seat” deal. According to Ben Schlappig, a frequent flier with over 4.7 million miles flown already, the tl;dr answer to the question is yes, the person in the window seat controls the window.

The long answer, though, is that the concept of a window seat is complex and there are many nuances to consider. The key factor here is what he calls the golden rule: “if the person seated next to you asks politely for the window shade to be lowered, and has a legitimate reason, consider compromising.” Because nobody likes a jerk.

But there are other factors to consider: getting aggressive and confrontational is the worst idea to have on a plane; sometimes closing the shade is for the greater good because folks want to sleep; sometimes the flight attendant can override your power and just shut it for whatever reason; and sometimes, if the plane is technologically advanced, the windows might dim on their own.

But back to the story. It got some modest upvotage and attention, but enough to be picked up by a couple of online news sites. You can read it on Reddit, but not without sharing your window seat stories, or your opinions, or the best thing you’ve ever seen through a plane window. Do that in the comment section below!

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