The Sleepability Score, explained

A star rating tells you if an airport is nice. It does not tell you if you can close your eyes for four hours without a cleaning cart, a tannoy announcement or a security guard moving you along. The Sleepability Score exists to answer that one narrow, practical question.

It is a single number from 0 to 5, shown on every airport guide on this site. A 4.5 and above means genuine, comfortable overnight rest is realistic. Below 2 means you should be planning around a hotel, not a bench.

The five inputs

The score is built from five factors, each considered separately before they are combined. None of them is guessed — each maps to something a tired traveler would notice within the first ten minutes of trying to rest.

• Noise: how loud and how frequent the terminal stays overnight, including announcements, cleaning machinery and foot traffic near common rest spots.
• Light: whether the areas travelers actually use for sleep have dimmed lighting overnight, or stay lit like midday.
• Seating and space: the presence of loungers, armrest-free benches, pods or quiet rooms, versus rigid seating with fixed dividers.
• Temperature: how well-managed the climate is overnight — airports with harsh air-conditioning near gate seating score lower here even if everything else is fine.
• Safety: staffing levels, lighting in transit areas, and how comfortable solo travelers and families report feeling overnight.

How the factors combine

Safety and noise carry the most weight, because they affect every traveler regardless of who they are or what they packed. Seating and temperature come next, since a good spot and a good layer can offset a mediocre score there. Light matters most in combination with the others — a bright terminal with excellent seating and low noise can still work if you have an eye mask.

What the score is not

It is not a measure of how nice the shops are, how many restaurants there are, or how modern the architecture looks. An airport can be visually stunning and still score poorly here if the seating has fixed armrests and the lights never dim. Equally, a plain, unglamorous terminal can score well if it is quiet, dark and safe overnight.

• It is editorial judgement, built from consistent criteria — not a number supplied by the airport or an advertiser.
• No airline, airport or lounge operator can pay to move its score, and commission from any booking link never factors into it.
• It reflects general overnight conditions, not any single traveler’s one-off experience.

Reading a score in practice

A score above 4 usually means free, comfortable rest areas exist and the airport is genuinely built for overnight stays. A score between 2.5 and 4 means it is workable, but you should read the airport’s specific guide for where to go and what to avoid. Below 2.5, treat sleeping in the terminal as a fallback rather than the plan, and check transport or hotel options before you land.

• 4.5 and up: comfortable, low-effort overnight rest for most travelers.
• 3 to 4.4: workable with a bit of planning — pick your spot carefully.
• Under 3: possible for the determined, but a hotel or pod is worth pricing out.

Keeping it honest

Scores are dated and carry a confidence level, because terminals get renovated, seating gets replaced, and rules change. When a score changes, it is because the underlying conditions changed or new evidence came in — never because of a commercial relationship. If you spot an airport that no longer matches its score, tell us; see the live-updates page for how.