Airplane bunk beds coming to ‘cattle class’ — for a price

Trying to get some sleep on a long or red-eye flight can be a pain for those in economy class, with lie-flat seats typically reserved for those who can afford pricey business or first class.

But one airline is bringing first-ever bunk beds to economy class — and you’ll be able to reserve them sooner than you think.

After testing the Skynest “pod” concept, Air New Zealand revealed they will debut in September 2024 as part of the airline’s remodeling of their current wide-body planes, as well as their new Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

The bunk beds will be a game changer as the first-ever sleep pods in the sky, with six available for “cattle class” passengers in economy for long-haul flights.

“[Skynest] was really born out of our research telling us that sleep was core to customer experience,” Leanne Geraghty, chief customer and sales officer at Air New Zealand, told the Washington Post.

Two stacks of three beds will be located between the premium economy and economy class cabins, and each bed comes with full-size pillows, bedding, ear plugs, a reading light, a USB port and a ventilation outlet.

Passengers can purchase a block of time to utilize the pods.

They will most likely be sold in four-hour periods with a 30-minute buffer for the beds to be cleaned and renewed with fresh sheets.

“We know that most people undergo a 90-minute REM (rapid eye movement) cycle. So, the four-hour block allows them to have two of those REM cycles with time to wind down and then wake back up,” Geraghty said.

But the airline is still unsure exactly how much they’ll be charging for time in the sleep pods.

“Pre-COVID, we were looking somewhere around that $400 — potentially to $500 — dollar mark,” Geraghty revealed, but Air New Zealand has not yet finalized the pricing.