Ryanair is another CANCER growing on the airline industry. I'm talking about the management and the way they are taking advantage of pilots (and other employees) who are willing to work under subpar conditions and wages in order to 'get ahead one day'. Well, that's all well and fine while it is a relatively small company but they have now reached a critical mass.
It's similar to SWA in the USA in that once a company gets big enough it has some clout in the marketplace to drag down real wages, eliminate pensions and prompt some onerous workrules.
I can't stand the comments I see like "if you don't like it, then quit, go somewhere else". Those are clearly written by people who don't know much about this industry. At 50 years old and 11 years seniority I don't want to start over at the bottom (again) somewhere else with so few years left to try to recoup the interim losses. Though, sadly, I am having to consider those options now. I worked plenty of years for low pay at crummy companies in order to 'get ahead one day'. Now it looks like there won't be anywhere to get ahead anymore.
I think it is right and appropriate for pilots at Ryanair to now stand up to O'Leary and bring him back to reality. I'm not talking about necessarily destroying the company. I can understand his want to control costs but really I don't know why he hates pilots so much and belittles them at every opportunity. Why do pilots (any human being?) put up with it?
As pilots, we have a unique position to make or break a company. We need to stick together; something we are not very good at (oddly). As Ryanair gets bigger and O'Leary gets bolder the pressure on the other airlines to match lack of pay & benefits will eventually lead to Ryanair being one of the best flying jobs out there.
Wouldn't that be a sad state of affairs for our once great profession? Just look at the SWA situation in the USA like I mentioned earlier. Not that SWA is an awful job, but it should not be the benchmark for top-tier airline jobs.
I love to fly and I probably retain many of the traits O'Leary loves to mock. He takes extreme advantage of our love of aviation, but he needs to remember that his airline won't "fly itself" however much he wishes it could. I'm not worried about him personally. O'Leary is a "flash in the pan" who will disappear with his millions (on our backs) when he has had his fun. Like he has so proudly stated: he has no real interest in the airline business or flying, along with all his derogatory "cloud bunny" comments; there are plenty more to take his place. One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to think he is anymore special to the airline industry than a cancerous tumour. But these clowns need to find out that we won't be treated like easily-replaced, unskilled workers that they wish we were.
When I now make less than the train driver (who has a pension) who takes me up to the airport to go to work, you have to ask yourself "have we had ENOUGH?" When an airline is virtually giving tickets away while requiring you to bring your own water on board, when are we going to say "ENOUGH" ?
It's almost embarassing when friends and acquaintances discover how few days I actually spend at home and how little an airline pilot actually makes nowdays. Not that I got into the job for the prestige but it did use to carry a certain amount of respect. People start to question your sanity when they realise the all hoops we jump through just to be treated like mud on the shoe by the likes of Michael O'Leary.
Sorry for the rant, but I couldn't hold it in any longer........