JFK’s Famed TWA Flight Center from ‘Catch Me If You Can’ Is Now a Retro Hotel

The cavernous two-story interior is a labyrinth of twisting staircases, concrete arches and a whopping 486 windows overlooking the tarmac – all of it embellished with rich shades of deep red, TWA’s signature color.

When in operation as a terminal, the facility was comprised of ticketing desks, a sunken lounge, multiple mezzanines, three restaurants, airline personnel offices and TWA’s Ambassadors Club. But the site was perhaps best known for its two futuristic “Flight Tubes,” lengthy cylindrical passageways encased in grey concrete and lined with red carpeting that led passengers 200-plus feet from the terminal to the adjoining gates.

Considered quite advanced at its outset, it did not take long for the site to become obsolete. Initially built to accommodate about 660 patrons, as air travel grew more popular and planes more robust, the facility quickly proved far too small for the growing number of travelers passing through its sleek doors each day. More space was also needed for terminal security, which was, incredibly, nonexistent at the time of its inception. But soon came the dawn of the “golden age of airline hijacking” and alterations had to be made to accommodate large-scale X-ray machines, metal detectors and the like. As such, by 1968, just six short years after the Flight Center first opened its doors, a large expansion was commissioned. The project, which, along with adding security features, included broadening the ticket counter, baggage claim and gate area, was completed in 1970.

In the end, though, the facility was never able to catch up to the times and began facing demolition as early as 1992. Fortunately, preservationists stepped in and the site was declared a New York City landmark two years later. It continued to function as a working TWA terminal until ultimately being shuttered in January 2002 following the company’s merger with American Airlines. The building then sat empty for close to 15 years while the Port Authority decided the best use for it. Though there were plans to incorporate the Flight Center into the design of the airport’s new Terminal 5, which was built between 2005 and 2008 to serve as a hub for JetBlue, they did not come to pass. Finally, in 2015, word got out that JetBlue and MCR Development were in talks to transform the site into a hotel. The lofty project wound up taking almost five years to come to fruition.

The Flight Center’s rehabilitation was spearheaded by Richard Southwick, FAIA, of Beyer Blinder Belle, and Anne Marie Lubrano and Lea Ciaverra of Lubrano Ciavarra Architects, the latter of whom told USModernist Radio that the venture was the “commission of a lifetime.”

A true labor of love, the transformation involved countless preservationists, more than 22 government agencies and over 100 outside consultants. Construction of the two hotel towers, which stand behind the Flight Center and house 512 rooms and suites, began in December 2016 and was completed in 2019. The lodging finally opened its doors in May of that year.

Today, the 200,000-square-foot Flight Center serves as the hotel’s lobby, a vibrant 1960s time capsule of a space that looks like a colorful set piece from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” come to life. The former terminal’s red carpeting shines bright once again, as does the penny tile flooring and gleaming windows facing the tarmac.

The TWA Hotel’s extensive amenities include a food hall, two restaurants a rooftop pool with an observation deck, the largest hotel fitness center in the world (it measures a whopping 10,000 square feet!), and a floor-to-ceiling Twister game room!

There’s even a decommissioned 1958 Lockheed Constellation airplane on the premises that has been rebranded as the Connie Cocktail Lounge, a fabulously chic bar serving libations with names like Vodka Is My Co-Pilot (a martini drink) and Eero Dynamics (a mix of bourbon, orange bitters, angostura bitters and demerara).

The hotel also boasts an incredible 50,000 square feet of conference and special event space, including 30 meeting rooms. While the facilities might look authentically retro and very in line with Saarinen’s original design, they are in fact new additions to the terminal building, constructed during the hotel transformation. Fun fact – due to stringent FAA height restrictions and preservation stipulations, they exist entirely underground.

The Stonehill Taylor-designed rooms and suites, many of which overlook JFK’s tarmac, feature mid-century furnishings, wood paneling, walnut and brass built-in martini bars (natch!) and rotary telephones. Those worried about possible noise problems from sleeping in rooms adjacent to an active runway shouldn’t furrow their brows. The glass curtain walls are some of the thickest in the world, comprised of seven layers of double- and triple-laminated glass measuring four and a half inches thick and specially configured to combat sound.

Of the project, MCR Development CEO Tyler Morse told USA Today, “We’re bringing back the magic of 1962!” He certainly succeeded in that goal. The hotel’s overall aesthetic is cheeky, fun and retro – and still tailor-made for the screen!

TWA Terminal Hotel

TWA Flight Center most famously appeared in the 2002 movie “Catch Me If You Can.” Though the film was shot in more than 140 different sites across Los Angeles, New York, Montreal and Quebec City, the JFK terminal definitely stands out as the perfect backdrop for the 1963-set biopic about debonair wannabe pilot/con man Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio). It is at the Flight Center that Frank scams his way onto his first deadhead flight in the film.

JFK International Airport, TWA Flight Center

At the end of the movie, Frank has a tense tête-à-tête with FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) in one of the terminal’s Flight Tubes. The two adversaries facing off in the dramatic passageway made for one of the most iconic and lasting images of the entire production.

Interestingly, “Catch Me If You Can” had a large hand in the restoration of the Flight Center. As Richard Southwick told USModernist Radio, to bring the site back to its 1960s self for the shoot, director Steven Spielberg and his team not only removed all modern machinery like security X-rays from the premises but also repaired damage to the floors and walls that had occurred over the years. From there, Southwick and his fellow architects had a much cleaner palette to work from when they began their transformation of the property into a hotel.

Back when the terminal was still in operation, it popped up in the 1974 drama “Death Wish” as the spot where Jack Toby (Steven Keats) picks up Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) and gives him bad news about his daughter.

Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) walks through one of the Flight Tubes upon arriving in New York in the 1976 thriller “Marathon Man.”

In 2018’s “Ocean’s 8,” Rose Weil’s (Helena Bonham Carter) humdrum fashion show, which Debbie (Sandra Bullock) compares to a “flight to nowhere without any peanuts,” takes place at the TWA Flight Center.

And famed photographer Annie Leibovitz lensed promo shots for the third season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” at the hotel in front of the Connie Cocktail Lounge in 2019.