It is to light up the aircraft and to save time for the groundstaff to go to every seat and open the windows for the next flight. THey open it so when they are parked at airport it would look prettier instead of a window that is white.

Its probably just the Airlines policy and it has nothing to do with FAA rules.

They dont have to be up.

They open the blinds before landing because in an event of a crash there is light in the cabin so you can see your way out.

One possible reason may be so that in the event of a crash the rescue workers would be able to see inside the cabin.

PS: If you look at some of “John G’s” (the A380-300 pilot) questions you will see some in the “HOMEWORK HELP” section. He is really just one of those 14 year old kids that like to “pretend ” to be a pilot on this forum.

There’s probably more than one reason. In the event of a crash you need to be able to check outside to see if is safe to exit. This more applies to exit row seats particularly, but if there’s a fire you don’t want to be opening that door - best to find another way.

There is no legal requirement for the blinds to be up.

The best source of information for the rear end of the aircraft is the passengers. As you may have noticed on take-off and landing all window seat passengers have their heads glued to the windows (even those not in window seats do the neck stretch so they can look out).

Although cabin crew are their for not only passenger comfort but safety they cant have their eyes everywhere especially on a large airframe.

If there are any abnormalities ie:fluid leaks, fire, loose panels, more often than not one of the passengers will cue into this because their eyes are outside. It is then the hope of the crew the passenger will alert someone and they will if they feel unsafe.

Yes the aircraft looks neater I agree but the main reason is for flight safety and as previously mentioned not all airlines do this.

Regards

So that the aircraft is more visible to other aircraft in the air and to distinguish it from other objects on the ground which might have strobe lights on them i.e., fire trucks, police vehicles, cell phone towers, high voltage lines, other airports, etc

Most answerers are correct or partly correct, as there are several good reasons for keeping them raised during takeoff and landing. But the MAIN reason is this:

The raising of your window shades for both takeoff and landing has to do with evacuation procedures. Should an evacuation become necessary, flight attendants need to be able to assess outside conditions so they don’t send passengers into undesirable conditions.

And no, the Federal Aviation Regulations don’t mention the shades, but you ARE required by the FAR’s to follow all instructions by members of the flight crew. If they say, “Seat backs forward, table trays stowed, and window shades up”, then you are legally obligated to do it.

So that if there is some kind of accident, rescue crews can see inside the aircraft cabin.

It’s a misnomer. A few foreign airlines do this, but there are none in the domestic US that require this. A few flight attendants started doing it, and now people think it is a rule. It is not. Not in the USA, anyway.