Crashpads
 

How is the crashpad situation at the following bases? I've heard MCO really doesn't have crashpads....

BWI
MDW
OAK
MCO

These four above seem to be the junior new hire bases and I'm moving to Texas to fly out of HOU as part of my 20-year plan.

BWI, MDW - great. Easily available, cheap, good transportation.
MCO - not a traditional commuter base but plenty of cheap hotels. I am sure there are one or two crash pads there, but I have never heard of them.
OAK - avoid at all costs. Zero crashpads, hotels are either expensive, $hitty, or both.
The good thing about swa is that you won't need THAT many hotels on reserve. You will mostly fly. The bad thing is that commutable trips are few and far between so you will need a place to stay unless you fly PMs and don't mind hanging in the lounge with the sleep apnea demo team.

There are crashpads. I run one. Not very many, probably full. Need a car. Nothing is close. Not cheap.

Mine is full.

There you go.
I looked in the MCO coordinators page for grins. There are 3 crash pads listed.

You'll hold HOU probably within a month or two after getting on line. You may do reserve for a month at one of those 4, and my recommendation would be MDW or BWI depending on your commute options...

I commuted to reserve in MDW. I'd bid PM reserve and commute in the morning of. I'd usually have a trip waiting for me by the time I landed, and usually I'd make the last flight home after finishing the trip not needing a hotel at all. YMMV...

Thanks all. Looks like MDW or BWI are my best bets until I can hold HOU.

My buddy got off IOE at the end of June and will be in HOU in Sept. He said he paid for two hotels in July.

MDW is the best for crashpads. Better than BWI. Because at MDW you can walk right across the street to crashpad land. It's 10-15 minutes from the terminal. At BWI, you can't walk to your crashpad (well, you could, but it would take 45 minutes or more). Either need a car, taxi, or have to ride the train. Waiting on the train takes time and obviously costs a few bucks.

Also, I'm pretty sure there are more pads in MDW to choose from.

The hotel situation in MCO is not too bad, especially for the next few months. $60-$70 per night via Crewres or Crewtel.

Not true on reserve any more, you will sit. Captains seem to fly more on reserve. FOs end up with 1 or 2 nights. On a 4 day at least one night and probably 2 in a hotel. On a 3 day you will hope you get a 3 day but most likely not. Things have changed. And varies between AM and PM reserve.
A few crash pads In LAS, but hooters offers a good deal for hotel. OAK is a pain but great crews.
And radisson in OAK is $79 before taxes with crewtel rate.