Housing and Costs during Initial
 

I've got a Jan 07 class date w/TSA, and I'm wanting to know what to expect in-so-far as housing during inital training.

Does the airline provide any assistance in finding housing/paying for housing (not crossing my fingers on that one) during Initial?

Beyond food and incidentals, what costs should I be looking out for during training?

Finally, anything I can do ahead of time to make training easier, or tricks to help out during training? Any suggestions are welcome, not just those from TSA folks.

Thanks in advance

During training (not TSA) we were provided with a hotel room the entire time. We were given "training pay" which didn't equate to much the first four weeks and then went to normal guarentee after that. All told, I had to dig about $1,000 out of savings for incidentals. As far as finding housing after training, you're on your own. If you're RIC based, there's a bunch of good crashpads around here and you don't need a car. I'm shacked up with a couple TSA pilots as we speak.

Training is a real kick in the gut if you're not financial ready for it. Save now.

Thankfully my wife's a lawyer, so i think we can survive the 2 months or so till i get out of training. if not, my credit card has a nice, low APR

During the interview i chose STL as my base, hopefully i'll be senior enough in my class to have it as an option. i plan on cummuting from the Indy area, so i'll spend my free time during training hunting down a decent crashpad.

TSA will not provide any housing during your training, there are crashpads in STL particularlly the pilot projects (think one website you can check is stlcrashpad.com)

training pay is 60hr/mo. which will equate to $570/2 weeks (you'll be poor) times can be between 2 and 3 months we started sept. 5th and i start sim oct. 28, some won't be in sims till after me, so finally done w/ training in early nov...

trainings not that bad, firehose of information they'll feed you, PM me if you want more info on that. And commuting with TSA as far as i can see it, will suck majorly, especially initially while you're on reserve. Hit me up w/ Q's, ps...how many in your class?

i've been told that it'll be a small class, but i was given no definate numbers. i do know that at least 5 people from here at Purdue (including me) will be in it, so i'll have pre-arranged study buddies.

know all the memory items and limitations that they give you so you can recite them in your sleep. training will be much easier with those things down.

Me too. Find a pad yet? I have a few leads.

Be careful around STL. The neighborhood gets pretty sketchy just a couple miles east of the airport. I grew up there so I know from experience. There are a couple crashpads in the Woodson Terrace neighborhood. Not a bad area. Nothing but fast food and little to do if you want to get away from the studying for a couple hours on the weekend.

Are you guys serious? TSA does not provide accomidations during training? Why the he!! not? Everybody puts you in a hotel for training! Some are nicer than others, but no hotel is unacceptable. Are you supposed provide your own hotel on the line? Or just sleep in the airplane like Mesa?

Dont accept crappy treatment. It is detrimental to the profession as a whole everytime a pilot accepts substandard conditions. Unless you've interviewed with and been rejected by SKYW, XJT, Eagle, CHQ, Horizon, AWAC, PSA, PDT, and anybody else who flies jets (except Mesa and Scabjets) quit today and talk to everyone else - they're all hiring.

Very well put my friend, very well indeed