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This sounds way too claustrophobic to me. I think I’d rather stay in my regular upright seat for the whole 16-18 hour flight and try to nap or have a film festival if I really can’t sleep sitting up.

“…The airline will soon open bookings for four-hour stints in the Skynest sleep pods and says they will be the first lie-flat beds for budget air travelers….Travelers will have the option of a pre-booked four-hour spot in a curtained pod, with costs starting from 495 New Zealand dollars ($291) on top of the price of their economy tickets for use of one the six pods, arranged in a triple-bunk style layout between cabins….

Fliers are also required to change into specially provided socks to enter the pod, fasten their seatbelts over their blankets and forgo dousing themselves in any smelly “perfumes or potions.” Passengers will be woken by a gentle change in lighting at the end of their four-hour stint in the bunk — or by a flight attendant, possibly less gently, if they don’t rouse in time.

Each berth is about the length of a regular bed — 80 inches — but the pods don’t leave headroom for sitting up and access “requires bending, kneeling, crawling, or climbing into the space,” the aircraft’s website says. The bunks are 25 inches wide at shoulder height, tapering to 16 inches at the foot of the beds...”