Flight Attendant Crash Pad or Apartment
If you are not lucky enough to live where you are based you have two options: flight attendant crash pad or get an apartment. Flight attendant life is such a drastic change. It is a whole different world with a completely different species of people! I swear, sometimes I want to search around the cabin for Ashton Kutcher to blow the prank because some of these flight attendants are straight up nuts. It can be an overwhelming lifestyle change so you have to make choices that will give you some comfort while you adjust.
You’re Officially a Flight Attendant, Now What?
After graduating flight attendant training and earning our wings, we had about a week and a half to pack up our lives and move across the country to our bases. I am based in Washington, D.C. so that move from Texas to the northeast has been rough. I knew absolutely no one around the area so I was on my own with just about 10 other classmates. My best friend from training and I decided to get a place together. After orientation, we were waiting to be shuttled back to our hotel where they put us up for a week and mentioned starting our house hunt to our classmates. That is when another classmate asked if he could live with us. Psh, of course! The more the merrier because the more the cheaper the rent – amirite?
Our only stipulation was that we each get our own bedrooms. A flight attendant crash pad was not an option. For me, it was non-negotiable to have my own room even if I had to pay more for it because I need to be able to retreat to my own space every once in a while. A 3 bedroom apartment split 3 ways near the airport is still pricey. Especially on a new hire’s reserve salary. We looked at countless apartments, but the main problem was price. If we had more people or shared rooms the rent would be so much more manageable, but we kept going back to privacy being a priority.
Where I Lived As a Reserve FA
We ended up settling on a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment about 10-15 minutes from the airport. Location was important because at the time none of us had a car and we would be ubering to and from the airport. We thought it was the perfect place! Decent finishings, a trail running behind, great location & an affordable price if we had a long lease. It didn’t take long for us to realize we had made a ghastly mistake. LOL. Our apartment is horrible in every sense. But we signed a 13 month lease because that was the cheapest option. If we were to go back and do anything differently it would be pay more for a shorter lease. It is worth it!
Once you start flying you start talking to other flight attendants about where they live and there are always better options than you can find. We realized we are paying the same amount for our 3 bed/1 bath tiny apartment as my friend who lives in a 3 story townhouse with a deck. Womp womp. BUT you never know until you start flying and meeting other flight attendants and you have to find a place to live before you start flying! It is such a broken system they have for relocating new hires, but I guess it is all part of the insane adventure we signed up for.
When you are on reserve (flight attendant lingo help here!) you basically have to live where you are based. Once you have a line (you know your schedule in advance) you can fly in the day before your trip stay the night at a crashpad and then commute home after the trip, but as a reserve you are on call 24 hours and you don’t have a set schedule to know when or where you are flying. You just always have to be ready.
What is a flight attendant crash pad?
A crash pad is a shared home consisting of (typically) multiple bunk beds in each room housing flight attendants and/or pilots. This option is usually for commuters who just need a place to “crash” when they commute in for a tip the night before. There are two types of beds in a crash pad, a hot bed and a cold bed.
A hot bed is a bed that is unassigned. You sleep in whichever bed is available to you. Hints: the bed is always warm because there’s always a body in it.
A cold bed is an assigned bed. It is YOUR bed and nobody else should be sleeping in it. Hints: it gets cold when you’re not there.
Learn more about flight attendant lingo here
A crash pad is great option for a commuter. Crash pads are not typically for reserve flight attendants. This system is not designed for people to actually “live” there. A lot of crash pads don’t allow you to stay more than 10 nights in a month so you need to be cautious of each crash pad’s specific rules. There is usually not a ton of privacy and very little space for personal belongings. There are typically cubbies for your personal belongings, but do not expect closet space where you can store a lot of things. The rent for a crash pad is typically around $250-400 per month depending on where you are located which is amazing for commuters! Most crash pads are a month to month basis so there is not really a lease per se.
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My Recommendation for Reserve Flight Attendants
Commuting on reserve is a nightmare. Sure, it works out for some people, but for the majority of the rest of us it is very stressful and not very practical. My recommendation is to skip the crash pad and go in with your classmates for a short period of time. Avoid signing a long lease (even if it’s cheaper – I know it is tempting!) because you will fly with other flight attendants that have great recommendations and know the ins and out of rooms opening for rent in flight attendant apartments.
Get a 2-3 bedroom and split it (you can even do two people to a room if you want it even cheaper) chances are you all will be flying different schedules and you won’t hardly see each other. There were several times I went a month or more without seeing either of my roommates! If an apartment complex is really cheap and make sure you read reviews online thoroughly. We made this huge mistake and ended up with an awful apartment (with roaches & bed bugs!!). The apartment complex had soooo many fake reviews (I know!!), but we just skimmed through them and didn’t realize! But further down all the awful, true reviews were there. Do you research. Thoroughly!