Andrew Cohen

Review of Transworld Airlines

Being a longtime New Yorker and a fan of mid-centu...

Being a longtime New Yorker and a fan of mid-century architecture and design, my wife and I and another couple decided to do a one-night mini staycation at the TWA Hotel at JFK last weekend. We booked an Executive King Suite with Runway View. Looking at all of the room options online this seemed like a great choice based on the website pictures. We arrived on Sunday afternoon, checked in and went to our room as it was ready. There are two separate hotel wings that are accessed from the main lobby through the former walkways that formally led to the old TWA gates. The lobby level is in the middle so there are two floors about the lobby level and two below. Our room was one flight down. Upon entering our room, we were quickly taken aback. While the room was nicely appointed and spacious the wall of floor to ceiling windows did not look out onto the runway. Instead they were eye level with airport terminal traffic. There was no possible way to see the runway through the terminal buildings and we were on full display to the steady stream of passing cars. While there were automatic window blinds they were blackout only blinds so our choices were total darkness or being in full view of passing cars. We quickly went back to the front desk and were told that there were "no other room options available". This was surprising as it was a Sun night and the room was expressly advertised as a "runway view" room. With no other options we accepted the fact that we would have to lower the blackout blinds and flip on the lights making it feel like a windowless room. To make matters worse our room (#342) was located directly above the employee's entrance to the building. The door was a heavy metal door literally located below our bed. Every time a person entered or exited the building it made a loud crashing sound which reverberated and amplified into the room. We of course did not realize this until later that evening when we went to bed. All night long and into the morning employees entered and exited the building, jarring us awake and driving us crazy. On check out we made mention of this to the person on desk duty and they just shrugged their shoulders, not offering any type of consideration or empathy other than "we'll make a note about that". This was a huge disappointment to say the least and I really didn't want to make a scene or push it as I was exhausted having not slept the entire night.

With regard to the rest of the hotel I really think they have done a great job with the restoration and making you feel like you were stepping back in time. We had dinner at the Paris Cafe which was very good however at 7:30 they had run out of 3 appetizers (which the waiter was apparently unaware of). The fish and chips were excellent and all of our other choices were satisfactory. There are 2 lobby bars, a ski chalet style bar on the roof next to the pool and the "Connie" bar on the jetway which is an old plane that has been transformed into an intimate cocktail lounge. All of the bars (which we tried) were great and each featured a unique set of cocktails, all of which were good. Other features were seating on the upper levels of the main lobby, a Herman Miller reading room, TWA gift shop featuring some nice TWA themed merchandise, a gym outfitted with Peloton bikes and other equipment, a heated outdoor wading pool overlooking the runway (however it was packed with screaming kids), coffee bar, Shinola mini-boutique and a few food court options however it seems that they are still building the choices out as there were only two options (ice cream and premade sandwiches).

Overall the entire experience was dampened by the room view (or lack thereof) and being kept up all night by the banging employee entrance door. Making matters worse was when expressing our concerns we were politely dismissed. I would definitely recommend checking out the hotel however be vigilant on what room you are given or better yet, go only for drinks and a bite to eat.