Like Jesrober said above, we (Nov. 3rd) stayed at the Staybridge Suites. Some have gotten the Homestead Suites in the past (horror stories from most people). Saturdays and Sundays are off during ground school. During sim training, any two consecutive days off dependent on your schedule. They advise to not go home on the weekends because of the possibility of not making it back in time. I went back and forth during ground school and even now w/ sims and it never was an issue as long as I checked the loads the day of. You can still jumpseat on other airlines as long as you have your company ID. CASS is not required unless physically occupying the cockpit jumpseat. I think it's a misconception that CASS is required to "jumpseat" on other carriers with reciprocal agreements. However it IS nice to have in case the cabin is completely full. That's never been the case for me including the day after Thanksgiving out of LGA.

As far as fitness center, the Staybridge has a really ****ty fitness room with a couple of treadmills and a really old pecs and legs machine. There's no squat rack, dumbells (well, only 5 lbs) or anything of that nature. There is a local YMCA, but if you don't have a car to get there, you're SOL. The hotel provides a free YMCA pass. It's located ten minutes by car. Any other questions, feel free to PM.