$100 Per Hour For Bunk Beds In Long-Haul Economy, Starting 2024

Many of us have wished for a bed during a long-haul economy flight and now Air New Zealand is making it a reality. For a fixed four-hour period, passengers can book a bunkbed on the North American routes starting 2024.

You’ll find the Skynest between Economy and Premium Economy class, allowing passengers to crawl inside with fresh sheets for the four hours—it won’t be possible to book any longer, although families will be allowed to book consecutive sessions, if there are enough slots available. There will be six pods that that airline calls “a game changer for economy travellers”.

Passengers will be separated by curtains and each pod will contain a seat belt that can be fastened in case of turbulence and the lights will come on slowly after the four hours are up, allowing a thirty-minute changeover time for cabin staff to prepare the beds for the next travelers.

Each pod will have a full-size pillow, sheets and blanket, ear plugs, a separate reading light, personal device USB outlet, ventilation outlet, and lighting that is convivial for a shut eye—the Skynest is the result of 5 years and 170,000 hours of research and design and it was a recent finalist in the Crystal Cabin Awards, where cutting edge designs in travel and aircraft are unveiled. The refit will occur in New Zealand on eight new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Air New Zealand is not the first airline to think about introducing beds into economy class. German airline Lufthansa conducted research in 2007 into the idea of introducing triple-decker bunk beds on its Airbus A380.

Likewise the head of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, said at around the same time that it was a promising idea. However, many airlines didn’t take the idea further because they thought the public wouldn’t be keen on laying in rows on top of each other. It also seemed difficult at the time to work out certification.

Other airlines have tested out concepts of offering travelers the possibility of lying flat but in other ways to bunk beds. Lufthansa conducted a trial of a Sleepers Row on long-haul flights of 11 hours or more, where they can lie across a row of three or four seats with a comfy mattress topper and pillow, for a premium of around $250.

Since 2022, Virgin Atlantic has also had The Booth, a lounge space for Upper Class passengers traveling between London Heathrow and Orlando, Florida. Incidentally, Qatar Airway’s Q Suite is the only double bed to be found on an airplane, where several seats can be turned into a cabin within a cabin for family and friends traveling together.

New Zealand air has decided to start its Skynest on North American routes, traveling from Auckland to both Chicago and New York, as it feels travelers in this market would pay a premium for more comfortable sleep.

The airline hasn’t yet fixed a price and isn’t quite sure how the booking would work but it aims for around $400-€600 for the entire slot and will be available to book from September 2024.