Cold Aircraft Cabins at Night

[Pole Hill]

Y'all,
This may seem like a silly question, but I'll ask just incase....:O
I get the impression from my own experience as pax/talking to friends etc that airliner aircraft cabins sometimes tend to be cooler at night: Is there any foundation to this statement, or is it just coincidence?
If yes, why don't the crew increase the cabin temperature?
Thank you,
POL

[catchup]

At night, sun refuses to shine.

[Pole Hill]

catchup,
Ah, thats why its dark at night! :ok:
I know that, but why don't the crew just 'turn up the heat?'
POL

[catchup]

;)

Why should we?

It's all automatic.......:)

[visibility3miles]

Since it's so cold at high altitude, I doubt the time of day matters much.

Your body temperature tends to drop as you start to fall asleep, so they may feel cold as they doze off.

Ask them if they think the conference room gets colder when the topic is really boring... :zzz:

P.S., Ask for a blanket. Most airlines still carry them. Or BYOBlanket

[Rainboe]

A hot cabin at night when people are sleeping in their clothes is pretty uncomfortable and feels sweaty and 'stuffy' and makes people start accusing airlines of turning airconditioning packs off with high passenger loads (they don't). It also makes people thirsty so they keep the cabin crew busy, when half of them are off asleep (well they are in BA anyway), getting drinks all night (and you really don't want to drink that aeroplane water- take a lovely bottle of Volvic). A cool cabin is far more comfortable.

[TopBunk]

I agree with Rainboe , it's much more comfortable if it is cool at night for sleeping. If you are too cold you can always put something extra on/get a blanket to make it a comfortable temperature, but if it's too hot there's b*gger all you can do about it (whilst remaining decent) to get comfortable.

[Pole Hill]

Thank you everybody for your replies, particularly TopBunk and Rainboe.
I agree, I'd rather sleep in a cool cabin with a blanket, than a hot cabin.
POL

[LGW15]

Most of the air comes from around your feet on aircraft and it is very cold up your leg!

[Blacksheep]

Most of the air comes from around your feet on aircraft and it is very cold up your leg!Not so! In most airliners it enters the cabin at the ceiling level and exits through sidewall vents at floor level. There is therefore a certain concentration of airflow around the feet, especially for those sitting in window seats, that may give the impression of air entering the cabin at ankle level...

[Centaurus]

And why do some operators insist on turning the cabin lights to either dim or off just before take off and landing at night? It can't seriously be for night adapation of the passenger's eyes as no way can you be night adapted in just a few minutes.

In any case reading lights are allowed on, so it's not night adaption. Problem is with lights turned low or off, you can't see where the emergency exists are, especially for older people with eye sight limitations. The pilots have their landing lights on for take off and landing, so obviously they are not worried about night adaption - so why are the hapless passengers stuck with it?

Sounds like its a myth from the days when wartime night fighter pilots wore dark goggles for night adapation while on standby.

[faraaz]

its so you can supposedly see out of the windows at night to alert the cabin crew of a problem with the aircraft...and of course you would be able to see the exits, there are floor level emergency lights that lead the way to the exits in a cabin.:ok:

[cod liver oil]

I've always thought our eyes adapted to dark quicker than "a few minutes" Centaurus.

The human eye becomes more sensitive when we move from light to dark areas. This is called dark adaptation, and it is what we notice when we go into a dark movie theater. It is also what we experience when we are suddenly in the dark after a power failure. We gradually see better as our eyes adapt to darkness. The pupils widen to allow more light into the eye. The rods and cones in our retinas become six times more sensitive after 1 minute in darkness than they are after the few first seconds. After a half hour, they are even more sensitive. This increasing sensitivity continues for over 8 hours, when the eye reaches its maximum sensitivity to darkness and light.
link (http://www.nasaexplores.com/show_k4_teacher_st.php?id=040510141525)

I believe it to still be a good practice to dim cabin lighting prior to T/O & landing.

Cheers:ok:

clo

[Captain Rat]

How cold it feels will also depend on where you sit and aircraft type etc....I know from experience of the BA 777, in Club class, the window seats seem very hot and stuffy as there doesn't seem to be much of an airflow around this area. Could be to do with the large dividers sheilding you from your surroundings. (Just my observation though..)

[prasina]

And how about when it's so cold that there's ice on the inside wall panels of the cabin?

[Rainboe]

Where have you got this? Sounds nonsense to me. That would imply that the air coming through the ducting was cold enough to form ice- in which case the ducting would block with ice. Actually quite serious as there are protection systems to prevent ice forming in the ducts, so I find your scenario a tad unreal!

[GemStA]

Most charter pax are still in "holiday clothing" mode and insist on wearing that lovely bikini top and mini skirt home.....forgetting that they are landed at 3am in LGW and its gonna be about 10c.....then have to have a moan that they are cold and we couldnt give them a blanket....don't know where they think we can put 325 blankets and pillows when they insist on bringing 3000fags,cd player,novelty sombrero on board!!!!!

Sorry moan over!

[LGW15]

Thomson jet I was on this summer was b****y cold.

But the crew gave out 3/4 of passengers blankets (I didn't get one though)!
:{

[Rainboe]

Probably because of your language.

People have to remember the holiday is over at the departure airport. They have been living in tropical temperatures for 1 or 2 weeks and it is time to come home......normal temperatures start on the aeroplane, and Gatwick in November isn't really the time or place for shorts and flip flops (why can't they wear shell suits like everone else?). Do you know whole families have been observed in family matching shell suits? Oh the GBP (Great British Public) on its annual outing! Verily I do believe they should not hand out passports like confetti- but as they hand British passports like confetti to tribesmen from places 4000 miles away, I suppose the GBP itself should not be denied. If they stayed in GB and bred more, we wouldn't need so much free and easy immigration.

What was the question again?

[LGW15]

Yeah I swear the cabin crew!?
:confused: :mad:

[skiesfull]

Oy Rainboe! Wotcha got against shell tracksuits then? Me and the Missus have had ours for 20 years now and they are just what you need arriving at Luton Paradise Airport of a cold November morning after a couple of months on the Costas, thanks to Tony's Nanny State. Mine is a black one and is a little faded now but I can still roll up me sleeves and show off me tattoos, especially the one of the lovely Tracy. Mind you, the current wife, Shazza, don't think much of it but knows to keep quiet or else she'll get a fat slap in the gob! Our kids also had shell-suits as well, but Germintrude now wears them crop tops and low slung jeans to show off her pierced belly button and the top of her thong - mind you at 28 stones it's a lot of flesh and me and the missus will not sit next to her on the plane. Young Dazza just wears a vest and shorts come rain or shine - he's got as many tattoos as me but not as many as his Mum. So, Rainboe, I think you should get rid of that blazer and slacks what you Nigels wear thinking it will allow you to turn left at the top of the stairs, and get yourself kitted out with a nice 'shellie', and come down the back for a bit of a knees-up. You can still get them at the Sally Army shop for a fiver!

[Rainboe]

I take it young Dazza's 'vest' is in fact a football shirt, usually a red one with 'Vodaphone' printed on it? Seems to be required clothing for all GBP tourists under the age of 25. Still I suppose it shows they have dressed in their Sunday best to go on holiday. I shall continue in slacks and blazer- heaven is reserved for ones such as us. The same ones I wore 25 years ago - can't do the buttons up now, but you can't have everything.

[Blacksheep]

Why do UK temperatures have to start at the airport? Why can't the crew crank up the temperature a bit and keep it at thirty something just for the hour or two it takes to get to Luton? Its the 'Shelly's' who're paying their wages after all. :E

Time for this topic to head south to Jet Blast for the holidays methinks... :hmm:

[sikeano]

lgw15
next time ask one of the cabin crew' er hello there could i have a blanket as i am getting a wee bit cold here , ah thank you '

this lgw may result in a blanket

wow i know i am a genius
:p

[Rainboe]

Blacksheep, whilst YOU may want the temp at 30, the cabin crew have to work in hot galleys, and maybe not everybody wants to be so insufferably hot. One of the pleasures of getting on an aeroplane in tropical climes is a nice cool cabin. Dress properly and it's comfortable.

[LGW15]

I was merely emphasising how cold it was never actually said it was ' ' cold!

[Blacksheep]

One of the pleasures of getting on an aeroplane in tropical climes is a nice cool cabin.But 30 Celsius IS nice and cool. :confused:

Perhaps these 25 years living in the tropics have altered my perceptions somewhat. ;)

[oceancrosser]

catchup et al

Why should we?
It's all automatic.....


Many moons ago, enjoying the wonders of interline travel...
In the last seatrow of a Lufthansa B744 enroute FRA-NRT.
After enduring turbulence and cold over Siberia for a long time I stopped one of the "Gertrudes" passing by and asked if it would be possible to warm it up a little (everybody was wrapped in blankets as far forward as we could see).
She looked at me contemptously and uttered:
NEIN, ES IST AUTOMATISCH!!!! and strode away.

Now what is a poor pilot supposed to say to that? I went and scavenged the cabin for some more blankets

o/c