Passenger divides opinion after refusing to turn off reading light during night flight

A PASSENGER asked if they were in the wrong after they refused to turn their reading light off during a night-time flight.

They explained that they was travelling back from seeing their family only for the flight to be delayed so didn't take off until 11pm.

However, they decided to read a book on the flight - causing a problem with the passenger next to them who wanted to sleep.

They asked on : " I started reading a new book a couple days before my flight and I’m hooked so far, so I spent the entire flight reading.

"Since all the lights were off, I had to turn the personal light on so I could see.

"The man next to me started glaring at me after about an hour, and eventually asked me if I could turn it off so he could sleep.

"I apologized but told him that I was very invested in the book and wanted to keep reading."

"He wasn’t happy with my response but went back to sleeping."

However, they said that after falling asleep for another hour, he started complaining again, despite the plane being half empty so "could have moved to a different seat".

The passenger finished by saying: "I eventually turned it off when we were 30 minutes from landing, but once we landed he started complaining about me to his wife (who had slept through the whole thing)."

They asked if they was in the wrong, and people were divided on the forum.

Some were on their side - one person said: "That’s why you have those lights and why he should use a sleeping mask. Some people are SO entitled.

Another agreed: "You can read on the plane. And you have kindly refused to switch it off. It’s your right."

However, others had more sympathy for the other passenger.

Someone said: "You’re not wrong for just saying no. You’re just not nice."

Another person added: "It’s a half empty plane your neighbor is sleeping and you want to read, just pop over a couple seats and resume reading."

Earlier this month, a passenger had a similar problem when he needed the light to do some work during a flight, which sparked debate.

When it comes to dimming the lights, there are two times on a flight when it's essential to the safety of passengers - take-off and landing.