I know its pathetic, i live 5 min away from CIA and i still talk to my ex collegues. The thing is, apart from BA and LH and AF, the rest became pathetic in its own special way for each country.
Imagine i live 2 hours away from Rome, have no free tickets and no consecutive days off (7 total a month), no annual leave for the first 12 months (and its a 1 year contract to start with). And they call it a MAJOR Airline.
If ryanair offers a chance to senior FO to upgrade (they need more than internal upgrade can provide) i bet lots will knock, included EXs.