Airport experience review: using the Istanbul airport sleeping pods
A stopover in the middle of the night with several hours in between, but not long enough for a proper hotel overnight stay is a regular occurence if you are transiting through a large global hub.
I found myself i this situation recently at Istanbul airport, so I decided to do something that had long been in my to-do list: try one of the airport’s sleep pods.
So, here is my review of the Istanbul Airport (IST) sleeping pods:
The airport sleeping pods, or “iGA Sleepods”, are located airside in the international area of Istanbul Airport, next to the “D” gates.
There are about 25 of them in a segregated area within the main concourse. So, the pod area is physically cut off from the main hall, but there are no walls, it is “in the open” so to speak.
Access is through a manned counter that acts as a reception. Another member of staff takes care of guiding the guests to the pod and cleaning after someone leaves.
The Sleeping Pod
You can see it in the pictures. It’s like a sort of capsule, with a foam mattress. There is also a small pillow of the same material.
Each pod is fitted with a C-type electric outlet (the one used in most of Europe) and a USB port to charge your electronic devices (as seen on the right side wall of the pod in the picture below).
When a new guest comes in, a member of staff prepares it with a new single-use disposable blanket (you can see it below), which is discarded when you leave. It is possible to request extra blankets and pillows, at a cost.
Size-wise the blanket was a bit tight, so it tended to become loose at the feet.
And what to do with your hand luggage?
Each pod has a luggage compartment underneath. It is large enough to fit potentially up to two pieces of standard-size cabin baggage plus shoes and other smaller items, like a laptop.
Note that there is no lock, because it is assumed that the owner of the luggage will be on the spot the whole time. In fact, if you are sleeping, someone would need to wake you up and vacate the pod in order to open the compartment.
Now, the experience itself was pretty ok and happy to report that I managed to get some sleep!
The pod is actually quite spacious inside. This of course, may not apply to all sizes, but I am not small and it didn’t feel too constrained.
The pod has a retractable roof that you can pull up and down. This isolates you from the terminal light and noise (remember that the pod area is not physically enclosed).
This retractable roof is not totally opaque, there are some small openings, as you can see in the picture below and there are also some slits that you can use as handles to pull it up and down. So, not 100% dark and silent, but when it comes to isolating you from the surroundings it does a pretty good job (better than I expected, actually).
Some important considerations:
There is no wake-up service, so it is up to you to set up your phone or alarm clock (and the staff kindly remind you of this when checking in).
There is no light inside the pod, so if you wish to read, you will need to bring your own source of light, such as a Kindle-type device or mobile phone.
Also, there are no dedicated toilet or shower facilities inside the pod area (there are toilets nearby in the main concourse). Likewise there is no specific area where you can change clothes.
Internet:
There is no dedicated wifi network (this is not really a hotel or a lounge!), so you are dependent on the general public wifi of Istanbul Airport. In a way this makes sense, since, in principle you are there to sleep and you wish to optimize the time on the pod for that.
However, and here comes a more general rant: how is it possible that a major hub like Istanbul only offers 1h of free internet! (even worse considering that long stopovers are not rare). Major drawback of transiting through Istanbul! (particularly when comparing to other competing hubs)
Also, the process to access the public wifi is rather cumbersome, requesting you to enter your travel documents’ data. Seriously!
How much do the sleeping pods cost?
Between €10 and €15 per hour, depending whether it is during day or night hours. So, this means that you would be paying around €60 for a typical 4-hour stay. I wold say it is not cheap if you compare with a regular hotel room with a proper bed and toilet.
One question for which I don’t have an answer (because I woke up and went diligently to my next flight on time) is: what happens if you oversleep and let’s say, you paid 4 hours and you sleep 4h and 20 minutes? Do they charge you the proporcional part or a full hour? and how strict are they monitoring this (would a 5-10 minutes delay in leaving the pod area count?).
In fact, for stays longer than this it may be better value to check hotel options, although the in-terminal hotels (Yotel Istanbul Airport), both airside and landside didn’t appear to be particularly cheap either, with prices between €150 and €300 for the dates I was checking.
The “cheap” alternative, aside from the lounges, are the “nap areas”, of which there are several around the airport. You can see how they look like in the pics below.
By the way, there is also an off-shot of the sleeping pod service: the office pod.
These cabins are located right next to the sleeping pod area and are designed to provide a quiet and private environment to work while at the airport. Unlike the sleeping pods, these office pods are totally automated. I didn’t try them out, but looked pretty solid!
If you liked this review, check out my other Flight Reviews of airlines from around the world!