I had a crashpad in STL for $175 per month. It was a 20 minute walk to the airport. There were 4 bedrooms, so up to 8 people could rent at once, but rarely was it that full. Some nights I'd be the only one there, some nights everyone would be around.

Crashpads very...some only hold a few pilots, some are a mix of pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and the number of people very obviously.

When I was based in Newark, I didn't really do any research and just picked a crashpad...didn't know what I was signing up for until I showed up. I was in a crashpad that had 40 bunk beds in a two story house. It was always one big party- young flight attendants and pilots that would party every night until 2am..I could only stomach it for a month.

If you're new to the profession my biggest advice is to do research and not do what I did lol. Second advice, move to base and find a few guys to get an apartment and just split the cost. Your life will be much better!

DTW is big on hotel crashpads. There was one at the Clarion for less than $100 a month. It had 25 guys for ten beds in a suite. I think it was five bunk beds. I stayed at the Comfort and Americas Best for around $180 a month. 2 full size beds for 6 people and all the terrible soap you can handle. 3 people in a room? 2 people are sharing a bed. But both had breakfast and a shuttle to the airport. Get done at the end of the day? Go walk to Wheat and Rye and have a giant sandwich with a 30 minute wait for a beer.

On my 5th base 5th crashpad now, if you can help it don't get one with flight attendants, for gods sake I had no idea until it was too late. They can be just oblivious to what should be common sense, no other way to describe it.

I think I can sum up crashpad life with two pearls of wisdom "You get what you pay for" and "Be cautious of your bedfellows". That last one refers to your padmates. The ideal is a group of pilots all about your age range. Worst case is a bunch of new-hire, bubbly, crazy fun, oblivious flight attendants. You know how an 18 year-old girl might be fun to date but you would never want to marry her? Same idea.

Last crashpad I had was at ORD. There are a bunch around the Cumberland stop and Harlem stop on the CTA blue line. Both are very easy to get to or from the airport on the "L" at any time of the day or night; $2.25 (w/ ORD employee discount) and about a 5-7 minute ride each way. The going rate seemed to be around $175-$225. I stayed off Cumberland in a place with 12 bunks and this was my experience:

Pros: Cumberland is probably the better option if you're on reserve for a while. There are more restaurants, bars, an LA Fitness gym, a grocery store and a large park all an easy walk from the main area of apartment buildings. Plus the "L" is close if you want to go anywhere in the city.

Cons: Most of the buildings are older and smaller. Creaky floors, suspect heating and cooling, etc. I was in a two-bedroom place with 12 bunks and a small, out-dated bathroom. Sucked after burrito night or when a few of you had early AM shows.

As far as occupancy, picture a bell curve. On one end you have the few days where it's just you for days at a time. On the opposite end you have the days when the weather sucked and everyone missed their commute/came in early and 9-10 of you are stuck at the pad. And in the middle you have the majority of days where there might be 3-4 of you around which is enough to keep you sane but not too many that it's crowded.

Don't commute, even if your wife is the head doctor at your remote town or the free basement at your moms house in Podunk KY is cheaper than renting in base.

Get together with your wife, kids, pet gold fish or whoever cares about you in life and explain to them that you are all moving. Otherwise you will never see them or they will leave you. 11 to 12 days off, plus reserve, plus days needed to commute back and forth, you do do the math.

The guys that I hear doing these crazy commutes, either they don't want to be home or they have no life. The only way I would commute again is if I was at a major with 16 days off. Less than a 1 hour flight, and there was a flight every hour.

Yes. Full disclosure: After a year of commuting to reserve, I moved to base. Best move I ever made.

And then they closed the base.

Reginals close their major bases once in a decade, if at all. Now don't move to a outstation base that has 20 crews. That's probably going to close.

Envoy, and I think one or two others (PDT and Commutair maybe) have all but eliminated crash pads. Envoy gives hotels on any trip that isn't commutable at either end; up to 4 hotels a month other times; a hotel anytime you misconnect and end up in base overnight, and at the front and back of reserve blocks. Hotels in DFW or ORD are $50 and can be had for less if needed.

End result, most do not require crashpads at all. It's a great QOL enhancement and puts $1,750-2,500 a year back into your pocket.