Air New Zealand's Skynest is now on sale
By Josh Wood Mon Jul 27, 2026
Air New Zealand’s Skynest is now on sale for flights between Auckland and New York JFK, with flights commencing 24 December 2026. Economy and Premium Economy passengers aged 15 and over can book four-hour sessions from £215/NZ$495.
Skynest gives passengers a lie-flat bed in economy as well as a seat, something no other airline offers. Six nests, located between the Economy and Premium Economy cabins on select Boeing 787-9s, are arranged in two stacks of three in a V-shaped layout. Each bed is 2.03 metres long, 64cm across the shoulder and 41cm at the feet. Air New Zealand sells two sessions per flight, so twelve slots are available for each flight.
The session includes a full-size pillow, fresh sheets and a blanket, a privacy curtain, ambient lighting tuned to sleep cycles and a Nestcessities amenity kit with an eye mask and earplugs.
READ: The world's best economy class is getting even better.
How to book the Skynest
Passengers can add the Skynest at the Extras stage of the booking process, with live availability shown. The booking flow asks for a session choice with Session A running earlier in the flight and Session B later. Currently, the Skynest will only be available on the airline’s New York JFK route, with no other destinations confirmed.
Passengers eligible for the Skynest
Only Economy and Premium Economy passengers aged 15 and over can book a session, which rules out families travelling with younger children. However, the airline’s Skycouch is still available to younger travellers.
Anyone who cannot get in and out of the Skynest unaided should not book a session. Air New Zealand advises that reaching a nest will require bending, kneeling, crawling or climbing, and that passengers must be able to do it independently.
Why Skynest sells by the session
For safety reasons, passengers cannot occupy a nest for take-off or landing, which is why Air New Zealand sells two four-hour sessions rather than the whole flight. Each nest has its own seatbelt and crew call button, so occupants can be secured in place during turbulent periods.
That detail deserves attention and is one of the reasons why AirlineRatings.com rates Air New Zealand as a Seven Star PLUS carrier. Turbulence causes the most injuries during flight, and a passenger lying flat in a stacked berth has further to travel during turbulence than one buckled into a seat. Fitting a belt in every nest, rather than treating the space as a lounge, shows the design brief assessed turbulence risk.
A long time coming
Air New Zealand first showed the Skynest in 2020 and confirmed it in 2022, and due to delayed Boeing 787 deliveries, the carrier pushed the rollout back repeatedly. The airline sold the first sessions in May 2026 for travel it then expected to begin in November. The 24 December start represents a further delay in the Skynest’s inaugural flight.
The airline plans to retrofit its existing B787s with Skynest in time, though it has not published a firm timeline. Air New Zealand's Boeing 777-300ERs will not get Skynest as that fleet gets its own retrofit from March 2027, keeping 16 Skycouch rows in a refreshed Economy cabin instead.
Air New Zealand achieved a Seven Star PLUS safety rating in April 2026, the first carrier in Australia or New Zealand to do so, after completing six anonymous cabin audits. It also took the World's Best Economy Class title in our 2026 awards.
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