It's time to stop penalising pre-flight snoozers. Photo / Lai Man Nung on Unsplash
THE FACTS
The design of an airport, including its seating is often described as ‘hostile architecture’ in order to discourage sleeping in terminals.
Despite being one of the world’s busiest airports, Los Angeles Airport (LAX, USA) features no dedicated sleeping facilities.
In contrast, Singapore’s Changi Airport, often voted one of the world’s best for comfort, has snooze lounges, reclining chairs and quiet zones.
Miami Airport is being heralded for its decision to roll out airside napping rooms for pre-flight power naps. The cost? $67 an hour for a shoebox-sized space. Tamara Hinson explains why she’s tired (literally) of airports penalising power-nappers.
Five years ago, I was flying back to London after a trip to the Maldives when our plane was forced to divert to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, one of Europe’s biggest aviation hubs, after a snowstorm brought Heathrow to a standstill. There were lots of factors which made our time at Amsterdam airport somewhat of a nightmare, including the fact I was in a dress and flip-flops, having boarded the plane in the Maldives on the assumption my other half would collect me on arrival. From Heathrow, not Holland.
But the worst thing about our stopover was the lack of anywhere to rest. I spent 24 hours contorting myself into various positions within the confines of my seat in the arrivals lounge where we’d been dumped. But these seats certainly weren’t meant for sleeping – they were hard metal rows of connected chairs, each one divided by railings positioned at just the right height to ensure drifting off wasn’t an option. I felt like a pigeon trying to navigate those pest-deterring spikes on window ledges. Except I wasn’t trying to poo on a window ledge. I was just trying to get some sleep.
It’s a depressingly similar situation worldwide, in an era when standard traits of airport seating appear to be studded surfaces or partitioning rails designed to prevent tired passengers getting anywhere remotely close to the land of nod. As a Brit, I can confirm that London’s airports are some of the worst in this regard. In 2018, security guards at London’s Stansted airport announced a ban on passengers snoozing in the arrivals hall, rolling out an army of security guards (dubbed the snooze patrol by the British media) who stalked the airport every 10 minutes, waking up peeved-off passengers who’d dared to doze off. Numerous passengers reported being prodded awake by over-zealous security guards.
Surely allowing passengers the chance to enjoy some much-needed shut-eye is a win-win. Asian and the Middle Eastern airports appear to be the exception, with no shortage of spaces for snoozing. Recently, when transiting through Doha airport, I stumbled across the Orchard area, a spectacular indoor tropical garden featuring more than 25,000 plants (including 300 trees) and waterfalls. Dozens of passengers were happily dozing on the numerous areas of artificial grass, lulled to sleep, I suspect, by the soundtrack of the birdcalls playing softly over the speakers. All passengers at this airport get free access to numerous quiet rooms, which have dimmed lighting and reclining loungers.
And passengers seeking some pre-flight shut-eye are in for a treat at Seoul’s Incheon Airport, which has nap zones with reclining loungers, charging points and partitions for privacy. Singapore’s Changi Airport has free-to-use rest areas with some of the most comfortable reclining loungers I’ve come across, and Shanghai Pudong International Airport recently rolled out dedicated rest zones with reclining chairs, along with free-to-use showers in T1 and T2. The airport’s new sleeping pods come with a charge, but with rates starting from just $46 for three hours, it’s a price I’d more than happily pay (at this point I’ll flag that Berlin airport’s similarly sized and bizarrely named “Nap Cabs” start from $104 for the same amount of time).
I’ll admit that Spain appears to buck the trend when it comes to European airports’ passion for depriving jet-setters of their shut-eye. Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport has sculptural wooden benches designed to keep your legs raised while you enjoy a power nap (puffy ankles are never a good look, after all) and Palma de Mallorca airport’s sun lounger-style chairs, placed in the airport’s sunniest spots, are free to use. Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport has similar sun lounger-style seating. The only downside? Finding an empty spot – both of the latter destinations are famous for their raucous nightlife, hence these seats’ popularity with hungover clubbers who have headed straight to the airport from their nightspot of choice.
Then again, perhaps they’re onto something. Brits are infamous for their love of a pre-flight pint. Gatwick was the first airport in the world to have a gin distillery after all, and Bristol Airport will soon become the first one to have a speakeasy-style bar. The powers that be have almost certainly decided that forking out for nap pods and reclining chairs, when it’s a well-known fact that the average Brit can sleep pretty much anywhere when intoxicated, is a false economy.
Come to think of it, the airport in Munich, a city famous for its beer-loving locals, offers further proof of this theory. Yes, you’ll struggle to find anywhere to catch 40 winks, but it’s also the only airport with both a brewery and a beer garden (with a capacity for 3000 people, no less). Hit the Hoegaarden and you’ll almost certainly be on the fast-track to the land of nod, whether your sleeping surface of choice is a luggage trolley or a luggage carousel. The only downside? Making your flight. Where are Stanstead’s snooze patrollers when you need them?