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# The Air New Zealand Pod Awaits You
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-air-new-zealand-pod-awaits-you/
- Published: 2026-04-21T00:00:49.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-21T00:01:58.000Z
- Description: What gets me is that the $495 is what you pay on top of your basic ticket price: it’s only for a four-hour period in The Pod and, as you can see, it’s a bunk-bed setup.
- Author: Reproduced with permission
- Tags: NZ, Business

[**Tom Hunter**](https://nominister.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/the-air-new-zealand-pod-awaits-you/?ref=goodoil.news)  
*No Minister*

Like every Kiwi going overseas I’ve experienced plenty of long flights, courtesy of the simple fact that we’re one of the most isolated nations on the planet. It’s almost a perverse point of pride that we raise our eyebrows in amusement when Euros and Yanks start bitching about five to six hour “red-eye” flights.

Pussies, we mutter sotto voce, with a little smile.

No, for us, the three to four hours to get to Oz is a breeze and we fly between here and London with nary a thought to the 11–12 hour hops of Auckland-Singapore-London or similar routes. Likewise the introduction in recent years of Qatar and Emirates flights to Europe via their Middle Eastern hubs, with non-stop flights of 16–17 hours before you get the last, shorter dash to your Euro city of choice. My Italian one with Qatar was 17 hours AKL-DOH.

But that was in Business Class and it was great, with a cubicle all to myself that I really stretched out in and slept well. Even Kiwis blanch a little at the thought of so many hours in an Economy Seat, even a “Premium” one, so this has become an issue as Air New Zealand pushes into the same territory with 16-hour flights Auckland-Chicago and 18-hour flights from Auckland to New York.

Air New Zealand’s answer is [The Pod](https://onemileatatime.com/news/air-new-zealand-skynest-economy-bunk-beds/?ref=goodoil.news).

You can hit the first link if you want to see a video about it, complete with Air NZ people talking about how they figured this out – lots of customer discussion supposedly.

I don’t know. For a start, “Skynest” sounds uncomfortably close to “Skynet”, but that’s probably just my SF and IT inner nerd thinking (mind you, calling it a pod also brings to mind [other](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9VtRqjgF90&ref=goodoil.news) [dystopian SF](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJXPROjLz5Q&ref=goodoil.news) [stories](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzYdm7of%5FE&ref=goodoil.news)).

What gets me is that the $495 is what you pay on top of your basic ticket price: it’s only for a four-hour period in The Pod and, as you can see, it’s a bunk-bed setup.

Given that when I fall asleep it’s usually for more than four hours, for that extra money wouldn’t I be better off flying Business Class? I have not done so on Air NZ and I doubt they match Qatar’s quality, although the accountants and their pricing models have presumably accounted for this.

And I haven’t slept in a bunk-bed situation since I was a teenager on a school camp. From memory not even the Youth Hostels of my early 20s tried that on with young adults.

Especially now that we know, via [Smart Underwear, that we fart twice as much as we thought we did.](https://nominister.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/tuesdays-quick-hits-2/?ref=goodoil.news#ewwww-smart-underwear-reveals-we-fart-twice-as-much-as-previously-thought)

Anyway, on my next trip to Chicago, whenever that happens, I think I’ll forgo this tempting offer and pretend I’m as flexible as I was in my 20s – preferably in Business Class. Depending on how that goes will decide the next Chicago trip after that – if there is one.

This article was originally published by [No Minister](https://nominister.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/the-air-new-zealand-pod-awaits-you/?ref=goodoil.news).