Flight review: Air New Zealand's 'cuddle class'

JUST how much is cattle-class pain eased by converting a row of economy seats into a lie-flat bed? We were sceptical. And there were downsides.

Skycouch

AIR New Zealand's Skycouch seat adds a touch of class, and lie flat sleeping, to the Economy cabin. I took the family to New Zealand to try it out.

If you're looking for a different way to mitigate long haul journeys with the family, or a seat option that's an alternative to the usual Premium step up from Economy, Skycouch on Air New Zealand's Boeing 777-300ER planes could be for you.

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The seat makes use of "wasted" space in the foot-well by flipping up an additional segment to fill it in. Upgrading from a single economy seat to a Skycouch row costs more than Premium Economy but offers considerable more space, and the all important totally flat position.

The seat was recently dubbed "Cuddle Class". It costs less than two Premium Economy seats and lets partners, or parent and child, sleep next to each other provided they don't mind some physical contact.

Of course with these things the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so with the help of Air New Zealand I took my family on a flight to try things out. Although I fly a lot for work this was the first long-haul experience for my children (5, 8 and 9) so I wasn't sure how they would get on. Even for me and my wife, this was the first 24 hour flight we'd done.

Skycouch certainly helped the kids feel at home on the plane. Because each seat converted to what was effectively a sun lounger in the sky they could curl up and watch their films, play their games, like they were on the sofa at home. This was much better for them than a normal sleep - they would slide off if they slouched down too much.

Then, with three Skycouch seats all converted into bed-platform mode, they could get some rest by lying down together completely flat. Surprisingly, my youngest actually slept better on the plane than he often does at home. My wife and I could also take it in turns to get some shut-eye in the Skycouch row, something we hadn't really anticipated working.

To be safe while you're sleeping there are a bunch of different belts and straps you need to work with. Having just watched the Bear Grylls safety video on the flight it felt a bit like attempted to climb a moving rock face, but this is something the kids really enjoyed figuring out. Once you are all strapped in correctly, you can happily sleep without being disturbed.

One other downside is when the person in front reclines their seat the available sleeping space does diminish somewhat. However, provided you are expecting this to be a two-person area, like a couch rather than a bed, then this isn't really a big problem.

A key part of all this is the enthusiastic and well-trained Air New Zealand staff who are not only a little bit geeky about the seat (in a good way), but also ensure you have everything you need. Skycouch seats come with a soft topper sheet and pillows that add a bit of class to the experience.

Skycouch is the sort of technology that once you have tried it, it's hard to do without. Other airlines obviously recognise this as Air New Zealand are currently in the process of licensing the seat design out to other carriers.

I asked my kids what they'd take with them next trip and their answer was "Our Skylanders and our Skycouch dad, those are the most important". In our household that's about as high praise as you can get these days.