Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/08/go-back-in-time-at-jfk-twa-terminal.html
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If you like the aesthetic of this wonderful place, I cannot encourage you strongly enough to get yourself a book of the photography of Balthazar Korab, who was the favoured photographer of Eero Saarinen and (certainly in my opinion) one of the very best to ever drag his tripod around a built project.
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All that mid-century goodness and no haze of toxic smoke and segregation? I’m there!
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It made a cameo in ‘The Marvellous Mrs Maisel’ and I immediately added it to my wish list of places to visit.
Such a stark contrast to the horror shows that are almost all modern American airports with their cheap architecture, hideous carpets, blaring screens, painful furniture and thoughtless layouts. The future was mean to be bright and exciting not gloomy corridors lined with Hudson News from here to eternity.
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I spent a long layover there once about 35 years ago. 6 or 8 hours; I don’t remember. What I do remember is that there were virtually no places to sit unless you paid for something. So in my experience it was the second worse airport terminal for passengers (Iceland was the worst, and of course Singapore’s airport is pretty much the best)
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Groovy.
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How do I go back to that future?
I’ve had enough of this future…
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Took my family there for my birthday in November 2019. We just hung out and absorbed the vibes for a couple of days. They have hotel rooms in wings off to the sides that are done in a modern mid-mod style. It’s almost impossible to take a bad photo of the terminal. Went again for a few hours this past October, and hope to again some day. I’m so glad it was saved from the wrecking ball. Such a masterpiece.
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If I ever pass through that airport, I will heavily consider making a layover there just so I can see this hotel. You can use the hotel for short stays from 4 to 12 hours if you have time to burn between flights, and the best thing is that it is technically inside security!
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I was a bit confused at first. I was thinking of the Pan Am terminal they tore down around 10 years ago. I actually have a photo I snapped of the de-construction.
Glad they were able to preserve one of these treasures and bring a bit of historical context as well.
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Not in my experience; the access elevators are from T5, near JetBlue bag claim.
Unless you’ve discovered a whole alternate universe TWA Hotel dimension topologically connected to the airside corridors…
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(Dunno why but my post was edited which removed those all-important details. No, if connecting with a layover you will likely have to go back thru TSA security when you return from visiting the TWA hotel. Only Jet Blue is accessible.)
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That’s too bad; early on they said it was inside security, being part of the original airport. That may have changed since last I looked at the particulars.
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You board the PanAm shuttle at the rotating space station and just glide down.
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Keflavík used to be a terrific airport, but Iceland’s Instagram fans have meant it is completely inadequate for the number of people passing through.
I’d also add Vancouver to the list of wonderful airports - you can spend ages looking at the amazing First Nations art to fill out the long waits.
In any list of terrible airports, the shopping mall that is Heathrow deserves a special mention. It manages to be huge, cramped, soulless, depressing and bewildering at the same time - all drenched in the stench of duty-free perfume.
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Vancouver has a great departure area. Nice couches, wifi, outlets to charge devices. only problem is I was always worried I’d fall asleep too deeply and miss my flight.
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When we were kids and TWA was still in business, my siblings and I would yell out, “The Crab!” whenever we rode into JFK and saw that building. Might just visit it next time I’m visiting back there.
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That arrivals/departures board is awesome. I could completely expect it to be showing the departure time for United Planets starship C-57D.
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To be clear, while the TWA hotel is physically connected to JetBlue’s current T5 (via one of those super cool concourse tubes that are shown in “Catch Me if You Can”), it’s connected landside (as @raines noted, there’s an elevator near the JetBlue baggage claims if you follow signs for the TWA hotel–I’ve used it as a shortcut to get to the taxi line at T5).
It’s a fully functioning hotel with guestrooms, a gym (that outsiders can pay to join), ballrooms (my kid went to a bar mitzvah there a couple months ago), etc., so it’s not really practical to have it be airside and require every hotel guest go through TSA.
Note also that at JFK the active terminals aren’t even connected airside (although I think the future T6 will be connected to T5).
If you do have a long layover at JFK, I definitely recommend exploring the TWA Hotel over hanging out in a boring airline lounge. The food and drinks at the hotel are nothing special, but the spaces and the displays are great fun. If you have a really long layover, bring a bathing suit and check out the rooftop pool with views of the runways (open all year round–it’s heated in the winter). But allow plenty of time to switch terminals (if you aren’t flying from T5) and to clear TSA (regardless of what terminal).
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It’s not and never has been inside security, it is fully accessible to the public. For it to be inside security would have been a death sentence for this business.
