THERE'S AN IDEA: Snooze Blues

THERE'S AN IDEA: Snooze Blues A few major airports, but not Logan, help you get some shut-eye during long waits. We can dream, can't we?

THE IDEA: When your flight's delayed and you’re on an extended layover and all you want to do is doze off before takeoff, wouldn’t it be sweet to have a sleep suite? Who can nap on a torturously uncomfortable row of bucket seats between two narrow armrests, or on the hard floor? At Vancouver International Airport, you can pay $30 Canadian (about 424 US) to use a private walk-in closet-sized sleep suite for as long as you want. You simply let a lounge tenant know how long you want to nap, says Chris Gilliland, the airport's manager of retail sales and service programs, and when the time comes he or she will “gently wake you up.” At Zurich Airport, paying 48 Swiss Francs (about $38 US) will get you up to six hours of shut-eye in one of its cozy single-bed day rooms.

WHY BOSTON NEEDS IT: Logan sees more than a million passengers per month, and a good number of whom are only passing though. With area hotels charging in the neighborhood of $200 per night, there needs to be an option for a low-dough doze. Others have noticed Logan's shortcoming: Our airport scored poorly on the website www.sleepinginairports.net. With only one "good" feedback response and 14 "tolerable" out of 24, it’s obvious that Logan passengers need better napportunities.

PROBABILITY: Dream on. There's just no space to build a bunch of sleep suites, according to Phil Orlandella, Logan’s director of media relations. “It’s not a bad idea, but it’s not like thousands of people are stranded here and looking for a place to sleep,” he says. “If they really need to, they go to a hotel.” For now, it seems like the adage holds true at Logan: You snooze, you lose.

Patrick Gerard Healy

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