Hotel Review: TWA Hotel @JFK

a tribute to the golden age of flying

There is no hotel quite like it. The famed TWA Flight Center at JFK designed by architect Eero Saarinen has been repurposed as the only onsite hotel at New York’s JFK. It was last used as an actual terminal in 2001, when American Airlines, which bought out Trans World Airlines (TWA), closed the building.

While the guest rooms are in two featureless towers behind the terminal/flight center, the terminal building itself houses the hotel’s bars, restaurants, gym (downstairs), and reception desks. There is a museum area which highlights TWA history – neat seeing how the uniforms evolved. The curved ceilings of this building are remarkable. I love the splashes of TWA’s famed red throughout. From the front, the building is shaped like a bird of prey.

Also – they parked a Connie aircraft behind the terminal which is another cocktail lounge. The best feature of the hotel room towers is the infinity rooftop pool, with tarmac views. Enough writing, it’s all about the pictures.