Retro chic at New York’s JFK

Amid the “modern-day jumble” of New York’s JFK airport, there is a “simulacrum of what jet travel might have been like” in a more glamorous age, says Sunshine Flint in The Independent. The newly opened TWA Hotel is housed in the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Centre, a 1962 “marvel” of curving white roofs that looks like a bird in flight. Conceived at a time when America was at the height of its power, the former airport terminal is so spectacularly space age it once drew sightseers. The hotel that now occupies it is a “fever dream” of golden age nostalgia. There’s a faultless attention to detail, from the “neat-as-a-pin” cabin crew and pilot uniforms worn by staff to the “covetable” vintage posters, split-flap departure boards and vivid red-and-white insignia colour scheme. Everything here is “Don Draper-ed”, right down to the “rotary phones, old Life magazines” and a fabulous Vulcain ceiling clock. Stairs lead from the lobby towards the red-upholstered Sunken Lounge and a courtyard where a 1958 Lockheed L-1649 Starliner is parked – now a 150-seat cocktail bar “with vintage seats and intact cockpit”. Through the famously “groovy” red-carpeted tunnels that once connected the terminal to the gates, there are 512 rooms across two new wings, each with toiletries “packed in firstclass flight kits”, of course. On the ninth floor of the Hughes (as in Howard) wing, the rooftop infinity pool and bar offer “palpitating views” of elegant takeoffs and landings on the runways, with the New York skyline shimmering in the distance. It gives you a feeling that’s wholly unfamiliar at this or any airport – one of delightful relaxation. Rooms from about £120 (day rate). twahotel.com.