Did the summer on the 717 out of NYC. The staffing was so bad that even as a junior guy I was able to get basically whatever trips I wanted, always commutable 1 end and sometimes both ends commutable (not sure how it is now). I was able to get by simply using the Five Towns Inn (only hotel I know of that give a consistent crew rate). They will pick you up and drop off at the terminal in JFK instead of federal circle so you will save the $$ on cabs to get you to the crashpad. If you only need a couple nights a month, like I did, I'd recommend the Five Towns. If you gotta get to LGA it's $12 I think on the Airporter, and EWR is around $17 on AirTrain->Long Island Railroad->NJ Transit (but it's about 2 hours and a royal pain). But the bonus you get out of EWR is if you finish late, plenty of flights on FedEx to get you out if needed.