yes, best of luck to all applying to emirates and others.
RYR doesn't deserve the quality of people its been able to get during the last few years. a couple of years ago, there was no choice but to come here (every other airline was completely buggered) and i genuinely put my prejudices and pre-conceptions to one side and joined up with an open mind. although the money is reasonable for me now, it will probably get worse and the other terms and conditions and the management are squalid so i will leave when the right opportunity appears. if it doesn't appear, then i'll just leave and do something else. no amount of increased money would make me stay (within reason) and i would accept a pay cut in order to make the right move (within reason). i don't want to be a captain with them under any circumstances. i think many feel the same way. i still love flying.
we had a new cadet jump-seating a week or two ago who was ALREADY planning a move to the middle east (he had family out there etc), before he's even done his first revenue flight...
oh and Doug, you really are full of it matey. you're obviously in a bad situation or something because you sound stressed. your analysis and conclusions are so simple mindedly selfish. Lots of british guys wanted a union but we were totally outnumbered. The way ryanair is set up makes it impossible to have a union in the UK alone. the possibility of them shutting the uk bases and basing the planes abroad was simply too high a risk (dont think they wouldnt). that would clearly put us in a far worse position - dole office. in a normal uk company almost everyone would have backed balpa (that doesn't require a spine by the way), but in RYR, it was a no brainer.