Shrimps,
It is true that some guys get close to the 900 hour mark, but the main reason for the month off is so HMRC don't look upon us as employees and make Brookfield pay our taxes and NI.
Whilst I am under no illusion that anything is possible in Ryanair (apart from a base transfer list
), I personally don't think they would bring in 5/3 for all bases as it would be a massive change for rostering to create new 5/3 patterns for pilots with existing 5/4.
I can imagine them demanding 6/3 for some summer months from the current 5/4 guys, or less likely, an opportunity for pilots to bid for 6/3 for this period.
Most likely that Rostering will be on the phone a lot of the time asking people to work days off and there will always be someone to work it because most pilots think short term of the extra hours and/or pay, even though its likely for hours to average out in respective bases come April.
(Ryanair have got us thinking each man for himself)
On a side note, has anyone taken a couple of extra months off and still found themselves with 700 hours or so?