Ladies, Gentlemen
I am not cabin crew therefore I cannot speek with great authority on the training payment matter, but I can give you facts about this particular issue. Ryanair does not charge its cabin crew to do their training. A year or so ago a Spanish school (cabin crew) approached Ryanair and asked them to take on some of its graduates. (Apparantly in spain and in other countries in Europe the Licencing authority issues cabin crew licences and not the airline as in the UK) These boys and girls had decided to become cabin crew and payed for their course to this school because they wanted to go work for their national carriers. In order to receive their national licence they needed work experience and since no one was hiring in their country they found "evil" Ryanair who was willing to take them and pay them to work in a proffesion that they had chosen to do. CAE is an independent TRTO with its own marketing goals and ideas, and their desire to do these courses has nothing to do with Ryanair. If you feel it is worth it go for it, if you feel it is not then do not go for it. The targeting of pilots having applied on their website I am sure is their own marketing strategy
JP
On my previous post I forgot to mention issues regarding pilots training costs.
On the Ryanair website, it clearly states that if you are non rated then do not apply to Ryanair directly, but instead apply directly to the TRTOs. Ryanair does not receive any money from the TRTOs and they independently price their courses, therefore it costs one different amounts depending were they go. The cadet does not pay for his or her base training, nor do they pay for their line training as some one has mentioned before.
Three years ago the first cadets came from a dutch school and all of these guys had 200 hours total time. Today three years later they are earning around 3800 GBP net in the UK and around 4700 Euros in Euroland. I certainly did not have such an opportunity to go from a cessna to a B737-800 and to be guaranteed a job once the type rating was completed. A lot of us have not paid for our type ratings but we have paid in different ways, lower income our first years,years of unemplyoment, heart breaks when we did not get the first jet job we wanted, etc, etc. Just ask around the regional airlines F/os how much they earn and their prospects for command.
Some of these cadets will be Captains in 2 years from now earning 5000 GBP and with 4500 hours on a 737-800. Their world is their oister, unlike alot of other pilots... Ryanair is about partnerships, you take a risk you get rewarded, and most of all even during this horrible time in aviation Ryanair management has kept all of their promises regarding pay and working conditions.
Ryanair is not perfect but it sure does try to look out for its people (ie one of the cadets lost his licence during his probation period and he was kept on and paid and last I heard he is an SFI with us up in East Middlands). I know we do work hard but then I was not told any different when I joined...