I had a crashpad in DCA and I'd say half the time I sat around and watched Netflix on the 80" flatscreen in the living room or walked around DC, and half the time I was on a multiple day trip. I only had two day trips in the four months I was at DCA. That's not something I would bet the farm on though. You'll need a pad for reserve plain and simple. Just a matter of for how long. Some people fly a ton and never need it. Others sit. Your mileage may vary, but at least you won't be sitting airport standby like you might at some other places. FWIW my pad cost me $240 a month. I had over a million HHonors points and played the hotel game for a bit but the pad ended up being more convenient.

In my experience, PM reserve on DC is multiple-day trips, while AM reserve was often an early morning turn that a commuter had dropped.

SAP question
 

Can someone here give me a good explanation of how your SAP works? I'm familiar with PBS and Flica. I know with PSA, they can go to 65 hours. I looked on the forums but didn't see anything. Appreciate the help guys.

For line holders only. Can’t drop below 75 hours. The last 10% or so of flying is not awarded but withheld for SAP. Two rounds; first round is seniority based, second round is first come, first served. Then they build hard and composite lines with the flying left over.

Is that enough info, or do you need more specifics?

Thanks for the response. Much appreciated. Can you more or less usually get to 75 hours if you want and maximize days off or is it a bit of a crapshoot every SAP period?

I don't know, as I'm senior enough in my seat/base that I've never needed to use SAP.

SAP sucks here at Republic and doesn't work as intended. Bad wording in the contract. You have to be at the right lucky location and have the seniority in order to get any use at all. Otherwise like most people every single request will be denied by the automatic system.

My 1 sap request (as one of the most junior lineholders) worked out great. But then again DCA has a ****load of reserves. The reserves in base seems to play a large role in whether or not things get approved .

Yep, DCA is one of the anointed bases by Reverend Bedford.