TWA Hotel New York JFK Airport

The only hotel right inside the JFK Airport premises, a pool overlooking the runways of New York’s largest airport or just praising one of the most legendary airlines – there are many reasons visiting the TWA Hotel. As an aviation nerd, I just had to do it one day. When the changes in the British Airways loyalty program made a mileage run in August 2025 rather useless, I at least wanted to give it that nice twist. Here is my review of the legendary TWA Hotel.

 

TWA Hotel – Location

TWA Hotel is located in front of Terminal 5 of JFK Airport. Nowadays, Terminal 5 is majorly used by JetBlue. There is a direct connection from the hotel to the terminal. The hotel offers multiple restaurants, while Terminal 5 itself features a sparse range of services. You can use the AirTrain from Terminal 5 to commute between the terminals for free. Especially Terminal 1 does have some nice services nowadays. However, the upgrades of JFK will improve that situation. During my visit, the AirTrain access throughout the terminal felt to be blocked. Due to the significant upgrades and constructions at the airport, hotel guests were directed through a parking garage. This was overall fine.

If you do not arrive by plane, the AirTrain is your main public transport connection to the airport. Leaving the AirTrain at the two links to NY Subway at Jamaica and Howard Beach does require an 8.50 USD fee, though. Howard Beach connects to Subway A, while Jamaica allows to transfer to lines E, J, Z, and the Long Island Rail Road. There are car parks at the hotel, with the typical JFK pricing. The hotel also offers valet parking. Alternatively, you can also use taxis or rideshare.

 

TWA Hotel – Appearance & Style

The hotel is based on the head house of the TWA Flight Center, which operated until 2001, when TWA / Trans World Airlines was bought by American Airlines. The hotel’s main lobby still features the original design by Finnish Eero Saarinen. There are two “pipe-alike” tunnels to the wings with the hotel rooms. The one connecting to the Saarinen Wing is also connecting to Terminal 5. There are numerous small exhibits and stores, which I feature in the sections below. Throughout the hotel you find references to TWA Airlines.

Exhibitions

Throughout the main lobby area, there are multiple exhibits at the TWA Hotel. Throughout the building, you can explore a collection of vintage cars . In other sections, there are collections of historic ground crew and flight crew uniforms. There are also a lot of display boards and other signs featuring historic advertisements and details about the history of the TWA franchise.

At the ends of the two pathways, there are also replicas of the offices of two of the main heads of TWA and the building, Eero Saarinen and Howard Hughes. They are also very interesting to watch. Regarding Saarinen, there is also a replica of his living room.

 

TWA Hotel – Room

I had a non-refundable booking at the TWA Hotel in August 2025, Saturday to Sunday. The Deluxe King Room with Runway Room was a hotel of 642.30 USD. This is a comparably good price for a rather nice room category – the hotel is really expansive. In addition, I paid 150 USD plus tax for a late check-out at 18:00. There are no arrangements including breakfast or other meals. The hotel room did not feel overwhelmingly large, but it was actually not to bad. It comes with a smart design. The bed faces the large window, which had a great views of the Terminals 4 and 5 The long (but a bit of lean) work desk was located right behind the bed. That meant that you have a perfect view from most of the things you do from the room. There is no major wardrobe – the hotel is majorly running on one-night guests.

Items like TWA pencils or TWA notebooks are nice references to the airline. Despite the compact size, I loved the room – the view is simply outstanding and the room was convenient. I also liked the vast number of power sockets (US format only). I would have loved to have one or two complimentary bottles of water in the fridge – you simply appreciate that after a long flight.

Compared to the room, the shower bathroom was very spacious. There were also some TWA references like a TWA- themed soap bar or the shower amenities. Again, I felt having a shaving and a toothbrush kit would have been nice in a place like that. Nonetheless, I liked the bathroom. The room was well maintained and clean. What I was really surprised about was that despite the noise from the airport and the streets around, the room was very quiet. It was absolutely enjoyable to watch the traffic through the window.

 

TWA Hotel – Food

There are numerous opportunities to grab a drink or a bite, most of them located in the main lobby. The likely first one you spot is the food court alike Food Hall. Some of the services there are open 24/7 and offer a nice range for reasonable airport prices. Thus, this area is also very popular at passengers. The two posher options are the beautiful The Sunken Lounge and the Paris Cafe by Jean-Georges. 

 

Connie Cocktail Lounge

Another key element of the hotel is the Lockheed Constellation L-1649 Starliner. The plane originally registered as N8083H and named Star of America is turned into a cocktail bar. You can rent the place for events as well. This unfortunately happened during my stay. Nonetheless, the hotel opened the plane for hotel guests thereafter for an hour, explicitly inviting them to bring a drink from the lobby hotel bar to the exciting place. I felt that this is really good service. Nonetheless, you also have to state that I had to wait 45 minutes for it. The reception staff told me the wrong opening time.

 

TWA Hotel – Sports

The large gym in the basement of the hotel is absolutely impressing. It is available 24/7 to hotel guests, but there are also memberships and other means of access. One of the core features of the hotel is the rooftop pool on top of the Hughes Wing, which is overlooking the runway. The place is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, the pool was closed during my stay short-notice due to urgent maintenance. However, that felt to have happened on error. The towel staff as well as the reception at check out were confused by that (and the latter even did not know yet). The pool area is free for hotel guests until 10:45. Thereafter, you can book shifts at the area (at that time, the pool bar is open as well). Hotel guests pay half price of the 50 USD admission.

 

TWA Hotel – Service

Checking-in, even though I arrived slightly before check-in time at 16:00, went smoothly. I would have loved to know that there are availability issues with the Super Connie and the pool on that weekend, either before by mail or at check-in latest. When I complained about the pool situation at check-out the reception staff definitely felt sorry, but did not offer any kind of compensation for it. The free WiFi in the hotel works very well. Apart from the restaurants and exhibitions, there is also a TWA Shop with a nice range of souvenirs (and majorly rather reasonable prices) in the main lobby.

The TWA Hotel is also offering day room arrangements, which allow you to use the facilities during your stay. There are numerous options for events in the Events Center. I did not try, but the hotel states that even international calls from the hotel room are free. You have to state that the less public areas of the hotel looked significantly less well cleaned and maintained compared to the core areas.

 

TWA Hotel – My View

This place is amazing. It is like paradise for an aviation nerd for me. The TWA Hotel could really make it to the absolute top notch of my airport hotel rankings. However, there are service and especially communication issues. Cleaning in parts of the common areas, obvious communication issues between different responsibilities, but also a better communication with the hotel guests feel like easy-to-adopt changes, but they definitely impacted my review. A welcome mail with current disruptions would also have helped a lot. I would somehow love to, but finally, the negative aspects of a very pricey hotel make it drop out of the Top Pick! ratings.

 

TWA Hotel – Airport Views

Here are some more snaps I took from the traffic on JFK Airport. They have practically all taken from my hotel room or the observation deck at the rooftop pool.

 

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