Today I flew Jet2 from London Stansted to Split, Croatia. While I’ll be fully reviewing the flight (as we try to build up our repertoire of intra-European low-cost carrier flying), I wanted to dedicate a post to a feature that I’ve never seen before on a plane. Or more accurately, I wanted to dedicate a post to a feature that I’ve never not seen on a plane, until today…
Our Jet2 plane didn’t have a window shade
I had selected a window seat on our Jet2 flight, and we’d just broken through a layer of cloud cover after our climbout from Stansted. I enjoyed having a bit of blue sky after being in overcast London all day, then went to close my window shade to be courteous to my sleeping seatmate in the aisle seat – before realising that the window shade didn’t exist.
Jet2 737 Window shade (or lack thereof)
I did double-check that our 18-year-old 737 was indeed not a 787 and didn’t feature dimmable window shades, before spending a bit of time thinking about how this didn’t actually violate any ICAO safety regulations (and drafting this post on an open post editor that I had on my laptop).
Personally I wasn’t too bothered by a lack of a window shade – some of the best views I’ve ever gotten from flying are when flying over mountain ranges intra-Europe, and I love having a good bit of natural light during a daytime flight. Still, I kind of wished I had the option to close the window so I could nap for a bit. I can see this being quite annoying for those who are more sensitive to light, and want to catch a nap during a longer flight.
It was quite bright throughout the cabin on our afternoon Jet2 flight to Croatia
Why isn’t this more common among low-cost carriers?
I’m not encouraging airlines to cost-cut, though I can’t help but be curious, if it really is a worthwhile investment Jet2 would make to modify their planes. Jet2 isn’t the stingiest airline – everyone is allowed a 10kg bag onboard, which is unheard of among any intra-European ultra low-cost carriers (you do have to pay a small fee to guarantee that it won’t be gate-checked, though).
Especially considering airlines such as Ryanair are chatting about standing seating, I’d have thought that window shades would be the first form of “dead weight” to go? Why isn’t it commonplace for low-cost carriers to eliminate window shades, just to further lower costs, as well as eliminate the need for flight attendants to check whether window shades are all up before takeoff and landing? Is it a positioning thing, where as a leisure airline you’d get to see the world fly by as you head towards your destination?
I’d be curious to hear if there’s an explanation, or whether there are a swath of airlines I haven’t flown that have already eliminated window shades from their fleet too.
Is it just so the sun can continue shining into the cabin from the winglets?
Conclusion
My Jet2 flight didn’t feature a window shade, which was the first time I’d seen this, even amongst low-cost carriers. While I didn’t mind this too much (despite missing the ability to close the window a bit on my afternoon flight), I could see this being quite annoying for some more light-sensitive passengers, especially if trying to catch a nap on a flight.
I’m now curious to know why ultra low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet don’t follow suit and eliminate window shades to lower their aircraft net weight, and whether there are other airlines I’ve yet to fly who also have eliminated window shades from their fleet.
Have you flown an aircraft without window shades before?