At what stage did you guys get your based/non based final contract?
As far as i know they ask you if you want one or the other and if you ask for a specific base they try to give it to you and in the worst case you will have to be based a few months elsewhere before getting what you want.
Even though what is said above has been refuted several times, this post gives a most misleading impression. So let's be absolutely clear here:
What you are promised at interview may, or may not, appear in your final contract. Contracts normally appear
after you have no way out. If you express a wish for a particular base they may even guarantee you that you will get that base - and may then not give that base to you. In that case they tend to claim it is a temporary problem for a few months. I spoke to a colleague last night about this. His "temporary problem" with a promised base lasted for two years and when he brought it to a head it turned out that
never got what he had been promised.
This does not mean that there is a Ryanair pilot out there who can truthfully say he got what he was promised. But it does say that what you are promised CANNOT be assumed to be entirely reliable (a statement which is true about a lot more than basing promises!).
inveritas you did not mention the many pilots who joined Ryanair on the basis (promise/understanding/belief) that they would become full-time employees and found themselves forced to become contractors. Viz: "sorry we have no full-time positions today at this particular time, so it is either no job or a contractor job in Dublin. Sorry those are my instructions. It is a take it or leave it offer."