Midnight cruiser, you seem to have missed the fact that Ryanair are not operating on the US register! How did you miss that?
Are you saying that positioning BA crews not correctly ticketed then, and just walk on with uniform and id?
It's no good wailing that we "should" be able to do this - we'd all love to have such a perk. It's just that it ain't legal.
I also think there is a world of difference between reporting to one regular base and being expected to report anywhere on the route network on day one with travel on an alleged day "off". Isn't that the norm in Ryanair?