Hibernate in one of these airport sleeping pods to combat jet lag

We’ve all seen them: weary travelers stretched across rows of uncomfortable airport seats trying to nap. Others splay themselves across the airport floor in hopes of catching some shut eye as endless audio announcements blare overhead.

In the fight against exhaustion, some airports are providing a new option to help tired flyers get a quick nap in before takeoff. Special pods for quick naps are cropping up in airport terminals like Kuala Lumpur, London, Moscow, Munich, New Delhi, and Vancouver among others. Tokyo’s sleeping pods are stacked on top of each other with little room to do anything but lie down.

Options range from small napping cubicles to actual rooms that offer a blanket and pillow. Then there are the full-fledged hotel-style options like the Yotel at London Gatwick and Heathrow, as well as Amsterdam. These can be rented by the hour and come with a bed, desk, and bathroom with shower.

Minute Suites is a newcomer to the market carving out former retail space in airports like Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Philadelphia into small sleeping cubicles with a day bed and desk. Customers book by the hour and walk to their dim room with soundproofing and individually controlled air conditioning. Staff will even give you a wake-up knock on the door if desired.

While they generally prove to be quiet, always ask for one of the rooms as far away from the entrance as possible to avoid unwanted disturbance. And don’t expect a bathroom or shower to touch up that post-nap hairstyle.

The pod-like rooms of the Nap Cab in Munich or Snooze Cube in Dubai may strike some as futuristic, but the offering inside is rather basic. These don’t even have an attendant on hand. Instead, guests swipe their credit card on the touch screen outside the door and help themselves to a bit of shuteye before their flight.

GoSleep markets its Finnish sleeping station to airports around the world and models its napping cocoon after a business-class airline seat. Retractable covers draw down from the back of the seat enclosing tired travelers in complete, and seemingly claustrophobic, darkness. Space to stow luggage underneath the capsule insures they stay safe and sound.

Entrepreneurs are finding ways to cash in on jet lagged dreamers, but nodding off in your airplane seat is always free of charge.