Airlines offer weary travelers real beds to sleep in

NEW YORK — In some ways, Andy Abramson's morning routine is typical: He shaves, brushes his teeth and combs his hair before slipping on some nice slacks and a shirt for a meeting with a client.

But what's not typical about Abramson's routine is that he isn't doing any of this in his Del Mar, Calif., home. He's preparing for a day of meetings aboard one of several commercial airlines that promises to provide all the comforts of home, including a good night's sleep.

Call it the evolution of first class, or a return to the days when flying was glamourous, but an increasing number of airlines are offering flat-bed seats to business and/or first class international passengers.

Unlike lie-flat seats, which are angled, flat-bed seats recline to a full 180 degrees. The bed dimensions vary depending on the airline: Virgin Atlantic's seat length is 79.5 inches; British Airways is 72 inches in business class and 78 inches in first class.

"I'm 6-foot-tall, and I feel comfortable in it," said Abramson, who is CEO of an international marketing company. "I'm able to sleep flat out without having to curl my toes or bend my knees. Whenever I take a West Coast London flight, I usually spend half to two-thirds of the flight asleep, more than I get at home. It sure makes it easier if you have to get off the plane and you want to be functional."

Of course, a bed on an airplane is not a new idea. In the 1930s, Pan Am's Clippers, which took off from the water, had berths that folded down into beds. Post-World War II, the airline's Boeing 377 Stratocruisers offered sleeper seats. In the '80s, Japan Airlines and Philippine Airlines had spiral staircases leading to an upper deck of curtained-off beds aboard their 747s. Eventually the beds were eliminated.

But because of deregulation and increased competition, the ecomonics of the airline industry changed, said Dan Petree, dean of the College of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. It became much more difficult to allocate spending space on beds over seats, he said.

"I think now we're seeing attempts by airlines to differentiate their brands, to try to create additional value in terms of the service they provide their customers," he said. "I think that's one of the reasons we are seeing this tendency to pay attention to the relatively high-margin business flier."