I have resisted taking part in this largely fruitless debate so far, but will add a few points that may be of interest to some. The very title of this thread is unhelpful as it pits pilot against pilot rather than pilot against bonus-hunting, buffoon management - the latter being present in abundance at both our companies. Not working for Ryanair, I will leave it for others to judge the state of their company - suffice to say it would be a dark day for virtually any airline pilot in a jet company if they were forced to seek employment there. Needs must, and I daresay there will shortly be a few BMI pilots forced to eat humble pie and take the leprechaun's shilling in the coming days.
Regarding easyJet, where I am in a far better position to make an accurate assessment, it is no secret that easyJet pilots are currently engaged in an increasingly difficult battle in order to settle numerous issues with our management, the most fractious being the issue of German contracts. Most of that conflict is completely unnecessary and stems from a view which says we are just lucky to have a job, and that any act of greed and stupidity shown by our management is justified in the current economic climate. Like all these things, compromise will be required on both sides, but the mantra 'crew costs are too high' should be weighed against the staggering ineptitude required to lose over £300 million pounds in the fuel hedging catastrophe. As you would imagine, no one has been disciplined or lost their job over that decision - quite the contrary in fact as big bonuses just keep coming. Nice work if you can get it. I am amused to find out that the previously-agreed loyalty bonuses are causing such distress and the fuel hedging disaster is not.
Despite this, however, we should be wary of welcoming old Stelios back like a long-lost friend. The only successful business venture that he has ever been involved with is easyJet - all the rest are a catalogue of disastrous failures. His current management team are infinitely more competent than he is, and are generally adopting the right strategy in terms of fleet expansion in the current climate. Stelios, in stark contrast, wants a 'dividend' for share holders - ie he wants to asset strip the company and remove substantial amounts of cash out the business for himself and his family. I am genuinely grateful to him for his past contributions to the company, but he is absolutely the wrong man to be in charge right now. Andy Harrison is, for the mostpart, still doing a good job and if he could just return to his original line of seeing sound business sense in looking after his employees, the world he runs would be a significantly better place.
My take on all the latest ups and downs is very straightforward - despite the clear failings of our management, we need to work together for the greater good. There are one or two people who need to leave easyJet at the earliest opportunity, but overall it is still a very good and safe place to be. BALPA are fighting a difficult battle with unreasonable people and require our total support. Nonetheless, a strike now would be a tragedy for us all and needs to be avoided, if at all possible. I am cautiously heartened by the recent communication from BALPA of 26th November which announced what is effectively a cooling-off period to provide room for 'fresh thinking'. I think that is good news, as it gives an opportunity for wise people to seek a way out of unnecesssary conflict while it is still possible. It would not be reasonable for the pilots to expect a total victory on all issues, but not should our management seek to behave like bulls in a china shop throughout their negotiations with us. Fascinatingly enough, I have come across diehard anti-BALPA pilots in the last few days who have laid down their antagonism (going back many years to Dan Air and beyone) and rejoined BALPA to show solidarity with their pilot colleagues. I trust our pilot managers will take note of how strong the feelings are among pilots. The extremely unhelpful comments from our managers about the negotiations with BALPA have been very counter-productive and only served to harden the pilots' mindset. A negotiated settlement is the way forward and I still believe, even at this late hour, that this is possible. For everyone's sake, I hope that is the case. In order to avoid easyJet becoming worse than Ryanair, we have a lot of work to do - I dare to believe that we are heading in the right direction.