When you’re on a long, international flight, nothing helps time pass faster than sleeping on the plane.
But for some people, that’s easier said than others. If you’re taking, say, a 17 hour plus flight to or from India, sleeping for seven of those hours will make you at least a bit less loopy and jet lagged when you arrive. Some lucky people have no trouble falling asleep on planes, but for other people, it can be a challenge to get comfortable enough to doze off.
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In an attempt to make things easier, Air New Zealand has now introduced the first-ever bunk beds on planes, reports MSN. The Skynest will debut in September 2024 as part of the airline’s retrofit of their existing wide-body planes, as well as on upcoming Dreamliners. Each bunk will consist of six pods available to economy passengers on long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights.
Air New Zealand is one of the main carriers to New Zealand and Australia, for people who want to explore the great down under. It offers non-stop flights, usually starting around the $1,600 mark for economy flights, from New York City, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu. A flight between Auckland and New York’s John F. Kennedy airport can take more than 16 hours.
The retrofit is all-encompassing, from the new Business Premier Luxe offering at the front of the plane to the larger seats being installed in economy. These are an add-on purchase, and not included with the price of a regular ticket.
A reporter for MSN described the pods as being purple-lit and said they “look like the bunks found on sleeper trains in Europe, but with more of a space-age vibe.” The bunks are stacked into two columns, with six total pods measuring at 6 feet 7 inches long and 2 feet wide. A small stepladder gives access to the upper bunks.
Passengers that purchase a ticket in Premium Economy or Economy, will have the opportunity to purchase a block of time, likely to be about 4 hours, to utilize the Skynest, once the service is ready. The cost is expected to be around $400 to $500.
In 2010, the airline debuted the Skycouch, which lets economy passengers book three adjacent seats that can be converted into a lie-flat experience with a specially designed mattress across the seat.
