5 Hours in JFK - TWA Hotel drinks?
 

Next month, we'll be returning from a cruise at Red Hook, Brooklyn. Our flight home isn't until 4 PM. (SFO Transcon, Flagship Business). Because we'll be clearing customs in Boston before NY arrival, it's likely that we'll be cleared quickly and will likely be arriving at JFK 10-11 AM. So it's likely that we'll have 4+ hours to wait until we can board. (We visit NY often and my husband has mobility problems, so we'll stay at the airport rather than check out Brooklyn or Manhattan)

- I've been following the TWA Hotel for a couple of years and would love to see it and perhaps have a drink in the sunken lounge. How accessible is it from the remainder of JFK, and T8 in particular? Does the AirTrain stop nearby? A complicating factor is that my husband has difficulty walking distances and we use wheelchair assistance at the airport.
- Assuming that all things being equal, it's better not to have to go through security twice, might it be easier to arrive at the hotel, leave the bags with the bellman, and after a stop at the sunken lounge, move to T8?
- From their website, I see that they take reservations for the lounge. Are they likely to be needed on a Sunday mid-day?

- Is there a time limit in the Flagship Lounge in T8?

I spent a night at the TWA Hotel recently. I wanted it to love it, but did not. There are cool aspects to it (I did not have time to have a drink at the bar). Access is a pain: you have to take AirTrain to Terminal 5, walk to the Terminal, then find the elevator to the hotel from inside the terminal. I tried walking across the street from the AirTrain station instead of going through the terminal, but I do not recommend it.

Do you need to go through T5 security to get to the elevator? (Right now, I'm thinking of dropping the bags at T8 and taking the AirTran to the hotel and back and not going through security until we return to T8.)

The hotel is outside security so no need to clear twice.

Under your circumstances, I'd think about skipping the hotel and just going to the flagship lounge. The lounge at JFK is very nice, has decent food and free drinks, and has decent views as well.

I think I've read it's a 15 minute walk from the AirTrain to the hotel; it's certainly close to 10 minutes from the AirTrain to Terminal 5.

So in this case you're probably better off just going to the Flagship Lounge so you don't need to feel rushed anywhere.

I also recently visited the TWA hotel, and while it is accessible from baggage claim at T5, the walk from the Airtrain to that point is quite lengthy. The only way I would consider it in your circumstances was if you got dropped off directly at the hotel entrance to start. However with your concerns and having access to the Flagship Lounge, I would also likely concur you should just proceed right there. You mention visiting NY often, so just plan to stay the night at the hotel on a future trip. It is definitely worth seeing when the time allows.

But it's very different from just going to an airline lounge. They did a great job of restoring it, we enjoyed seeing the exhibit of FA uniforms through the years, from all the different designers who were the "it" designers of the day (Oleg Cassini, Valentino, many others). We were staying at a JFK airport hotel (the Hampton Inn) and had some time to kill, so our shuttle dropped us off right at the door. When we needed to get back to Federal Circle to pick up the shuttle we had to walk to the nearest Air Train stop (which was outdoors, across several streets with no crosswalks but with lights). We went in the morning so no food court options were open, I think we could have gotten a drink in the sunken lounge (maybe, not sure, people sitting around but didn't look to see if/what they were drinking). I found out after the fact that there is a cocktail lounge inside the TWA plane that sits outside...

We loved the kitschy clackety-clack arrivals/departures board with their fake TWA and PAN Am flights.

Whether you have time to go/want to go is one thing, but don't compare it to going to a contemporary airport lounge.

Also..consider SDC on AA.

Maybe drop the bags with AA at T8 and then take a cab/uber to and from the hotel. Just make sure the cab driver gets a 'short ticket' or they will be pissed.

The problem is coming back from the hotel. No taxis wait outside, and there's no way to hail one unless they happen to be dropping someone off. One of many issues with the hotel in it's current state.

You can select the TWA hotel as a pickup spot on Uber. Worse case you walk the tube and take the elevator down one floor to the T5 Uber pickup spot. 5 minutes top.

There are no more physical shorties, they show their copy of the meter receipt from the trip within queens to get to the head of the line.

No issue if able bodied. However the walk up tube isnt great for those that aren't. (Its really inclined and good distance for disabled)