Saturday, May 6, 2017

Inside crash pads

From Brick Underground:

People outside of the airline industry aren’t very familiar with crash pads, so the easiest way to explain it is it's like a crowded college dorm. Usually someone who owns an apartment in Kew Gardens—a popular spot for flight attendants since it’s equidistant from JFK and La Guardia—will run a crash pad and rent out beds. Probably nine out of 10 flight attendants and pilots that I know live in a crash pad. More often than not, it’s a few bunk beds per room in a fully furnished apartment, with everyone paying between $200 and $400 per month.

Many flight attendants and pilots commute to New York from other cities and spend this extra money monthly so they don’t have to rent a hotel when they have back-to-back trips. Hotels are only paid for by the airline when you’re on a layover. If you choose to live in another city and commute to a major-city airport—like NYC, Chicago, or Atlanta, for instance—then any overnight accommodations are on you. Most flight attendants get paid by the hour and only get a small per diem (about $2 per hour) when you’re working. For me, that just barely covers food.

Crash pads are technically illegal, kind of like an Airbnb, but I’ve only heard of one crash pad being shut down. Most people pay their landlord month-to-month and are not on a lease, but there is a little more trust since we all were vetted by our companies to work for airlines and crash pads aren’t posted on Craigslist. They're discovered by word of mouth, and there is a screening and interview process to get a place in one. That said, we didn’t all trust each other. Sometimes there are locked bins provided at the crash pad, but most people just take their stuff with them just to be sure no one would steal them while they were gone.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

very common with nurses and medical staff right near hospitals, too. work a 12 hour shift keeping the hospital open, sleep for 4.
-somethingstructural

(sarc) said...

Hard working honest attendants trying to get by.

They do not consume the services that other subdivisions do.

These legal citizens come into our city, eat and drink at bars and restaurants, PAY their bills and go to sleep, or engage in consensual acts within the privacy of these dorms.

The next day or just hours later these professionals are supporting the taxi industry back to the airport and are gone again for days.

Why are we not looking at the hot sheet apartments where illegals are crammed into, that are truly a fire hazard and drain to this city...

Anonymous said...

This has been going on for decades now. Still haven't heard anything bad about them.

Anonymous said...

I am sure they are productive citizens, but I doubt in co-op heavy Kew Gardens that most if not all of them violate house rules. Why don't the airlines invest in legal dorm housing if it is so popular for their members?

Anonymous said...

http://jmpattorney.blogspot.com/2013/09/tenant-or-licensee.html

Anonymous said...

It's illegal . We either say all of these arrangements are illegal or they're not . I'm sure the other tenants are not too happy about a rotating list of tenants going in and out . If they can do this then I can airbnb my place or have 4 families crammed into one house .

Anonymous said...





You have no idea if this is what they do . So you also have no problem with 4-8 post college kids crammed into a 2 bedroom just trying to get by?

For all you know they run an escort business when in town .

--These legal citizens come into our city, eat and --drink at bars and restaurants, PAY their bills -----and --go to sleep, or engage in consensual acts within the privacy of these dorms

JQ LLC said...

Hipshit entrepreneurs are already cashing in on this warped lodging. They call it pod housing, where the hipshit clientele are willing to pay 50 bucks a day to live in a bunk bed in a communal setting, it's like if Wework ran a frat house, which is what they are also considering for their offices on Wall Street. Actually this is more akin to that building in Chinatown a few years back.

http://untappedcities.com/2014/12/17/life-in-a-crowded-81-bowery-tenement-house-by-photographer-annie-ling/

This is what this goddamn generation are willing to do to live in the cities and outer boroughs and towns and it is bringing up costs at all levels and disenfranchising long and full time citizens. Don't be surprised if a lot of these so-called makers, doers and influencers (even these names are pre-k childish) that they like to be called are taking advantage of the sanctuary city laws

JQ LLC said...

Did I forget the chinatown hostel link? well here it is, from a few years ago.

http://untappedcities.com/2014/12/17/life-in-a-crowded-81-bowery-tenement-house-by-photographer-annie-ling/

kapimap said...

This is done in private homes as well. This happens in nice homes, with absentee landlords, even pimped out per night.

International flight crews pay for boarding, 2 in a room , with a contract in an area hotel. Domestic crews go the rent a room route.

Anonymous said...

Are these crash pads for the kung-fu attendants from United also?

Anonymous said...

All jobs now that don't require an education suck. College interns at computer companies make more money in a summer than these people.

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to bring this to the attention of the city's DOB and the Queens Boro president. Just because they are legal working citizens doesn't make it safe!!

Anonymous said...

Literally no different than what Charles Schumer does down in DC....

Anonymous said...

I am not afraid of employed air line staff who do not cause any problems or quality of life issues like house parties, drug dealing, prostitution, graffiti, or blasting music at all hours.

I am afraid of my neighbors, their friends and customers who do the above.

Anonymous said...

That's true: Al Damato and Guy Molinari used to crash together in a pad owned by Muhamed Šaćirbegović (also known as Mo Sacriby)

Anonymous said...

This story brings back memories of 70+ years ago growing up in Forest Hills. We "juvenile delinquents" discovered an apartment in Station Square used by pilots and stewardesses (now known as flight attendants). Sometimes it was stocked with booze. Good times! Of course, someone had to serve as "lookout".

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to bring this to the attention of the city's DOB and the Queens Boro president. Just because they are legal working citizens doesn't make it safe!!

Ok, yes.. but where are they gonna live now, genius.. litter on the street to make it even worst? these place at least keep them off the streets and allow them to live.