Airport Nap Pod Zoning Board Rejects Proposal for ‘Horizontal Terminal’ Expansion

The Airport Nap Pod Zoning Board voted 4-to-1 Wednesday to reject a proposal for a “Horizontal Terminal” — a 200-pod sleep facility where delayed passengers could lie flat — ruling that the airport “is a place of transit, not rest, and certainly not horizontal rest.”

“We sympathize with the delayed,” said Board Chair Margaret Ellison, 59, who conducted the hearing from a standing desk “on principle.” “But an airport is for moving. If we let people lie down, next they’ll want pillows. Then blankets. Then it’s a hotel, and hotels don’t have to announce boarding calls every 90 seconds. The entire ecosystem collapses.”

The proposal, submitted by the Passenger Comfort Coalition, called for converting an underused baggage area into tiered sleeping pods with dimmable lights, white-noise options including “distant jet engine” and “gate agent murmur,” and a wake-up service timed to flight updates. The coalition argued that the average Thanksgiving delay of 3.2 hours “is a nap-shaped problem.”

The board disagreed, citing the Airport Verticality Doctrine of 1987, which holds that “passengers shall remain upright or seated upright-adjacent while on airport premises.” The lone dissenting member, Board Member Tom Rivas, 52, argued that he had personally slept upright in 14 airports and “would not wish it on my worst enemy, and I have enemies.”

Public comment was spirited. “I fell asleep standing up at Gate C22 last year,” testified traveler Susan Delgado, 38. “I woke up drooling on a stranger’s shoulder. He was understanding. He said, ‘Thanksgiving, huh?’ We are now friends. But the system failed us both.”

The board did approve a compromise: 50 “leaning rails” — padded vertical posts where passengers may rest at a 75-degree angle, “which is technically upright,” Ellison noted. The coalition called the rails “a nap for people who’ve given up on naps” but accepted the decision.

The Horizontal Terminal proposal may return next year. “We’ll be back,” said coalition director James Park, 45. “The delays aren’t going anywhere. The floors are already full of sleepers. We’re just asking for zoning that reflects reality — preferably with dimmable lights.”