Hi,
Ryanair is as you take it, I personally love it but it is my first airline job so I still am wearing the rose colored glasses.
The a/c are very well maintained and lovely to fly, I fly with great people only come across the odd funny one but every airline/base has them. I have been given the base I wanted, I was one of the lucky ones on that account though! The base I fly from is very sociable and everyone is highly professional.
All in all for a first job its great especially being on the younger side of life so I am lucky just have my training loans to pay off, which is possible with the Brookfield salary. The rest is for me to use to enjoy life and save and live.
I am Brookfield so I have no idea what T&C's are, I fly and get paid, if I go tech down route I get no pay for the split duty time where I sit in a hotel, but on the plus side I have been lucky when this happened Ryanair did fax a credit card through and it all went on that, the hotel and food so they do look after you if you get stuck some where (from my experience this is, I have heard of Captains who paid it all and it took them over 6 months to get the money back).
The money is good but I would be happier earning less and having allowances, basic pay and paid leave. I hate sitting working out my hours to see if I can live over this month.
My colleges on Ryanair contracts have slowly over the years seen the pay decrease and the terms and conditions slowly disappear, so from there view things have been gradually going down hill.
If you want good money, home every night and a very stable roster (you can go through your diary counting 5/4 for the entire year and that's what you can expect) then Ryanair is for you, as long as you do not mind bringing your own food or drink. Personally I like it keeps the waist line under control. Its more of a family man lifestyle.
My only concerns at the moment are the 300 cadets and 100 planes we are getting, I say this because I have no idea where they will go, especially when we are cutting back at certain bases and moving crews and planes else where due to the economic situation. This winter for line F/O will be VERY VERY slow since all the cadets who are on the cheaper rates will be flying just hope summer is good so I can save and batten down the hatches. These new cadets are all still waiting for there new contracts as they are being 'edited' as one cadet has been told, it will be very interesting to see what they are offered.
I have a feeling Ryanair will just get to big for itself, like a star and when a star gets to big it implodes!
MOL has been a clever guy but I think his greed how now turned on him, with new planes arriving and no where for them to go.
But on the whole if things were really this bad would all the current and experienced Captains and F/O's still be here.
All the best
ADWJENK