Postscript to “An Unrelated Puzzle”

At the end of a recent post I raised the puzzle of why there are no relatively inexpensive sleeper flights. Apparently Air New Zealand not only reads my posts, they read them long before they are written because, as two readers pointed out, they have been working on the problem. One solution, already there, is a Skycouch, a way of converting two or three seats into a sleeping surface — useful for a parent traveling with two kids, who can sleep on the short bed made from two seats while the parent occupies the third. Conceivably a couple with a small child could fit on the bed that three seats convert to. A better solution, if the airline permits it, would be for a couple to pay for an extra seat and share the three seat couch.

It's an ingenious kludge, but they are in the process of implementing, may have already implemented, a more interesting approach. Arrange two full length beds in a v shape. But two more on top of them, another two on them. Six beds, stacked three high, occupy the same space as six seats. They call it a Skynest.

They are unwilling, or not allowed, to have the beds occupied for takeoff and landing, so the present plan is that you pay for a seat, pay extra for four hours in a bed. But if they can solve that problem they could provide beds at the same price as seats for customers willing to spend the while flight horizontal. For a long flight I would be.