It's easy to go on about BALPA and question why Ryanair pilots have failed to unionise but the answer is simple. Most airlines such as easyJet, Jet2 etc are full of British pilots for whom BALPA unionisation would make complete sense. At Ryanair, there is an enormous mix of nationalities and no individual union (such as BALPA or their Irish / Spanish / Italian / French / German / Swiss / Turkish / Brazilian equivalent) has enough to offer Ryanair pilots as a united group.
Ryanair purposefully base UK Captains abroad in a wide variety of countries, base Italians in Latvia/Poland/Canaries, Spanish pilots in Germany/Ireland/UK etc etc which makes unionising far far harder. Comparing easyJet with Ryanair when it comes to ease of unionising is like comparing apples with oranges - it's a totally different scenario.
A quick example. If every British easyJet pilot went on strike tomorrow, the airline would be virtually grounded. If every British Ryanair pilot went on strike tomorrow, probably about 80% of the operation would continue unscathed.
Last edited by skyflyer737; 21st May 2012 at 20:24.