Nap Time

Tired of someone kicking the back of your seat during a flight? Or tired but can’t rest in economy class? Air New Zealand has the answer: sleeping pods.

If we told you sleeper beds might soon be available even when you fly economy, you’d have one question: What’s the catch? Are they in cargo? Are they 3 feet long and about as comfortable as lying on a bed of thorns?

Well, not necessarily. Air New Zealand has developed something it calls the “Economy Skynest,” a small cabin in the economy class that features
six sleeping pods — with full-length beds — allowing passengers to lie down flat, rather than having to cram their legs into a small space for hours at a time.

“Depending on whether you’re a glass half-full or half-empty kind of person, the setup of the sleep pods either resembles the sleeping accommodations you might find in a hostel, or they may look like a human shelving unit,” Lilly Smith wrote Feb. 28 on the Fast Company website. “Either way, they’re about as private a setting as you can get in economy.”

You get typical bedding supplies — sheets, blanket and pillow — plus earplugs, dim lighting and a privacy curtain.

The jury is still out, but these sleeping pods could be just what the economy class fliers need, particularly on lengthy flights.

“A clear pain point for economy travelers on long-haul flights is the inability to stretch out,” says an Air New Zealand official. “The development of the Economy Skynest is a direct response to that challenge.”