I've flown for NJA for quite a few years, and also sat reserve both out of base and in base for USAirways. In base reserve can't be beat especially when living 11 miles from the airport like I do. I was also #2 on the reserve list so held weekends off. On "short call" (90 minutes back then) I just kept a bag packed and the uniform on hangers.
Now commuting to reserve is about the worst experience in the airline industry unless you've got a really good deal on a crash pad and some things to do. When I was furloughed and did the flow down to Mesa we only had 4 days off in a 28 day bid cycle on reserve. One friend of mine quit Mesa over that, he had a family that he rarely saw. I was lucky enough to quickly hold a line while I was there.
If you had a choice between an airline job where you knew you'd always live in base, or flying for someone like NetJets it'd be a tough call assuming the pay and upgrade times were equal.