Up, Up, and Away! at the TWA Flight Center

March 19, 2025

I’ve been to the TWA Flight Center three times.

The first was on March 5, 1999, when I flew to Paris on one of the weirdest days of my life¹.
The second was on October 16, 2011 — ten years and ten days after the terminal was closed — as part of an Open House New York tour.
And the third was on March 4-5, 2025, to celebrate its revival as a hotel and continued existence as a marvelously dreamy space to hang out in.

exterior of the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport

all photos copyright Casey Barber – please be respectful and don’t use without permission!

For those not obsessed with midcentury architecture, the TWA Flight Center was designed by the architect Eero Saarinen — the same person who was responsible for the Gateway Arch, Bell Labs in Holmdel, NJ, and some of my favorite chair designs.

If you can look at this building and not feel a sweeping rush of wonder, I’m sorry for your life. The lifting windowed wings, the swoops and curves and angles and penny tilework — there’s no other space like it.

views from the mezzanine at the TWA Flight Center

I’m eternally grateful for the foresight of preservationists to landmark this building back in 1994, because now anyone can experience the uplift of being in the terminal — no plane ticket required.²

Walking through the TWA Flight Center, you really do get a sense of floating through space, of weightlessness, thanks to the vaulted ceilings and the stairs and ramps that move you up and around the bi-level wings.

The hotel rooms are housed in two new structures that jut off the sides of the famous red-carpeted flight tubes (which you might remember from Catch Me If You Can³), so the terminal remains intact as a paean to the 1960s.

flight tubes with red carpet at the TWA hotel

When we visited in 2011, the terminal retained its good bones, but the whole place had the whiff of abandonment. Now everything is re-spiffed to its original shine, with most of the amenities restored or cleverly repurposed.

The ticket counters are now hotel check-in and grab-and-go food kiosks, and the baggage conveyor still functions if you happen to be staying at the hotel before taking a JetBlue flight elsewhere. The Lisbon Lounge and Paris Cafe are back up and running under the aegis of the Jean Georges umbrella, with Saarinen chairs, stools, and tables for guests.

windows and banquettes at the TWA Hotel bar — lounge seats in 2011

faded upholstered midcentury seats in the TWA terminal, 2011 — lounge seats in 2011

The London Bar and Constellation Club, sadly, did not get a second life in this restoration, but the marble fountains and planters were perhaps my favorite elements returned to their original glory. Seeing them in their disused state, I had wondered what purpose they served back in the day. Now I see!

One of the most-photographed elements is the restored Constellation jet parked on the tarmac behind the terminal, which is yet another lounge and cocktail bar. (And approximately 900 degrees Fahrenheit when we were there, so we took the requisite snaps and skedaddled.)

stairs leading to the Connie jet at the TWA Hotel

Apart from the architecture, vignettes throughout the terminal tell the colorful history of TWA’s tenure through vintage advertisements, flight attendant uniforms, and photographs. I live for these David Klein promotional posters!

While we could have gone the whole way out to JFK for the day and seen all the sights as members of the public without a reservation, I felt it wouldn’t be enough unless I truly marinated in the ambience of the building as a hotel guest, getting as many hours as possible to live my dream. And even swim in the rooftop pool for a few minutes, despite it being very windy and cold as it usually is in early March.

One final thing that really tickled me and shows the level of detail that was put into this restoration: During the Open House New York tour, I snapped a photo of the paper towels sign in the very groovy restroom. Lo and behold, when I returned to the same restroom, the sign was still there!

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A day so weird that it deserves its own story. Which you can read here. ↩︎
You will, however, have to pay for parking at JFK Airport or pay public transportation to get there. I do not regret spending $50 round-trip on a NJ Transit / PATH / LIRR / AirTrain combo to make it out to Queens. ↩︎
The signature Saarinen font in the Lobby & Baggage Claim sign at the end of the tube is visible at the end of this clip. Oh, what a shame to have that drab gray carpet then!
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