You’ve Heard of the Sky Couch. Meet the Skynest.

Do you have lie-flat dreams but economy-cabin finances? Soon you’ll be able to get horizontal without having to buy a $5,000 business-class ticket.

Air New Zealand announced on Tuesday that it would debut its new bunk-bed-like sleeping pods, called the Skynest, in November on its roughly 17-hour flights between Auckland and New York. Four hours of stretching out in one of the private pods will cost $495, on top of a roughly $900 one-way economy ticket.

The pods are the latest in a push by airlines to tempt lower-paying customers to spend more on premium offerings and add-ons. Air New Zealand has led the industry in sleep products, offering a lie-flat “couch” across a row of three economy seats on some long-haul flights since 2011.

United Airlines said last month that it would begin offering its own version of the couch, called Relax Row, beginning in 2027. Some other carriers, including Vietnam Airlines and Azul Airlines, in Brazil, have also adopted versions of the lie-flat economy row.

Nikhil Ravishankar, Air New Zealand’s chief executive, said in an interview that the airline’s goal was to “win on sleep.”

“Our geographical location in the world is certainly a motivation to get that right,” Mr. Ravishankar said, noting that a disproportionate share of the airline’s routes are long-hauls and red-eyes.

The pods, which were on display in New York for the announcement on Tuesday, come with a thin but soft mattress, a blanket, a pillow, a seatbelt, USB-A and -C plugs and a privacy curtain. The airline says each pod is about 6 feet 8 inches, though it seemed as if anyone taller than 6 feet might have to contort their limbs while getting in or out.

Users won’t need to set an alarm: Lights automatically turn on when a session is up, and a crew member will wake any deep sleepers. The crew then has 30 minutes to change the bedding before the next passenger’s pod time begins.

For now, Skynest will be available only on flights between Auckland and New York, which at nearly 9,000 miles is Air New Zealand’s longest route. The pods can hold six people at once and will replace five seats on new Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which will also feature an expanded premium-class configuration. Those planes will have just 120 economy seats, down from more than 200 on the 787s currently serving the route.

Passengers must reserve the pods in advance; online bookings open May 18 for travel starting in November. Eventually, the airline plans to allow passengers who are already in the air to book a nap time if slots remain.

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Gabe Castro-Root is a travel reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.

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