Depone, understand your point of view, not sure your age is, but fact is that unless there had been a company like Ryanair, you would not have stood a chance to have got your first job flying a jet!
You would have had to gone the old route, instructing, maybe found some impossible air taxi job, if lucky got a MEP or turbo prop job etc.
It would have probably taken you 4 - 5 years, living on "nothing" before you would have had a chance of getting an interview for a job flying a jet!
I think now,companies like Ryanair are here, and giving low hour pilot jobs, it is expected to be the norm! It is not the norm, it is a freak out of nature, of the business! Most companies in Europe do not do these cadet schemes, and if you do get in with companies like BA, Lufthansa, Swiss etc., the odds that you pass their selection is approx. 1 in 100.000, as they set very high initial standards!
Regarding deductibles, well for an "older" guy, it probably would be a second home, to do the travelling etc., so the expense of living abroad would be 100% deductible, and if that was a home away from home, anything you use on food, drinks etc. expenses connected with travelling is also deductible! All depends on your personal situation, and that you have a good accountant that can give you the correct advice.
Thar Ryanair thinks that they would not be able to treat an "older" pilot the same way, while he is getting experience, is in my opinion not the real excuse, as they know that this would not be relevant, end of the day, a contract is a contract, either you are 24 or 40, if you decide to do this, you have to accept the good and the bad!
There is very interesting situation regarding this, I have met a few fighter pilots, who have retired. Some companies are very interested to employ them, others not so much.
Now these guys of course top trained and qualified, many of them due to their operational duties have age of around 40 - 45 years old, and have total time of around 1000 hours, flying Phantom or Tornado's! (note that these aircraft do not count as multi-engine aircraft)
Now if somebody 40 got a job flying a jet, he would in theory have more hours of experience than a 45 year old retired fighter pilot! So the point with this, is that there is still a potential for a good career for an "older" pilot, if given the chance!
When I say i know lot of pilots working for Ryanair that are happy, than this is true, because they know what the alternative would have been!
Some of them waited long, and paid their dues, before their chance, others was pot lucky, and got job within few months of finishing their training!
I think that I speak for 99% of older guys, that none of us would have cared the way Ryanair treated "us" for the first few years, as it is like any job, you must start at the bottom and work yourself up!
If Ryanair has decided their own policy, that they think "older" guys would be more grumpy, well than that is what they have the right to do, as it is their company!
For me though, there is no plausibility for this theory, because anybody who is motivated enough to sacrifice all the time and money on their training, would rather prefer to work for Ryanair for 3 - 5 years, instead of having to go to Tesco, or instruct SEP for the next 3 -4 years!
So I find it fairly fresh and a bit insulting, when a young pilot rookie from Ryanair starts complaining about his awful working conditions!
I know several guys who left for greater things after 3 - 4 years, and if that was the worst part of your career, the first 3 - 4 years, of a 30 + year career, seriously, then that is beggars belief!
Try being self-employed for over 20 years, and see how you cope with that, and you not making any profits or getting any hand outs!