Maybe Airlines Should Offer Sleeping Sections

Sleeping is typically a private matter. We allow ourselves to do it in our homes or hotel rooms, when no one other than our close family is around.

With the notable exception of airplanes.

Warks would like to know why so many people feel like this airplane exception is permissible.

Other travelers offer some very pragmatic answers:

Perhaps these people awoke at some ungodly hour to get to the airport to check in on time and maybe they had combined it with a late night of fun dancing and frivolity ~Ansett

Or they’ve connected from a long haul flight and had a rough night ~blackcat20

But former army man Moopere provides perhaps the best reason to sleep, and subsequently stop sleeping when in flight:

even though its been decades some habits you never seem to break – when there is nothing better to do _always_ take the opportunity to get some sleep I’m usually asleep before we even take off … night/day doesn’t matter. The only reason I’ll wake up usually is another ex-army thing (heheehe), the only thing better then sleep is food.

And as far as Glider is concerned, an in-flight nap is right up there with one of the greatest theoretical achievements of a technologically advanced society:

I love when I can fall asleep on the plane and wake up to find myself a few hours closer to arrival. It’s the closest thing to time travel I can think of.

In what camp do you fall? Is sleeping in an airplane the equivalent of sleeping at your restaurant table in terms of etiquette? Or do you think they should go ahead and pump sleeping gas throughout the cabin and knock us all out?

Among the major airlines, it seems only Lufthansa has made their stance on the matter clear:

Image by Mellie. CC BY 2.0.

Pingbacks

  1. […] Lest people get the wrong idea, many of the very early risers who posted in this thread do admit to catching up on their sleep in the form of an afternoon nap – often enjoyed in a cozy lounge chair on the deck and/or poolside. These siestaers (siestaistas?) made me realize that poolside lounges are, along with airplanes, another one of the relatively few places where we allow ourselves to fall asleep in public – as I wrote about in a recent post. […]

Comments

  1. The one thing I like most about flying is the opportunity to “disconnect”. On the ground, we’re constantly glued to phones, emails, and social media. It’s relaxing to be able to close my eyes, breathe, and meditate myself to sleep while flying… one time I flew nonstop from EWR to NRT, and I swear I just closed my eyes and the next thing I knew was we were landing in Tokyo… or maybe I was drugged, but either way it felt great! haha

  2. Nothing worse than being in economy and having one or two people that don’t want to sleep and keep their overhead lights on, a window shutter open and/or tv screen running at 4am local time. This easy to offer option allows like minded travellers to sleep that little bit more comfortably. With plane configurations these days there is the opportunity to offer this.
    At least when I fly premium cabins nearly everyone wants a bit of shut eye after s few glasses of champagne!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.