When Ryanair split their B737 fleet 3 ways across Ireland, Poland and Malta, did they retain a single seniority list for pilots or are they now emoloyed by the local AOC holder and no longer a single pilot body in terms of industrial negotiation? And was that the plan all along?

Just about all. There aren't many airlines named after the founder, but there are a few - Braniff, bankrupt and closed long after its original founder was off the scene, got started again twice by others, using the original name.

Incidentally, Michael O'Leary was long just a front for Texas showman billionaire David Bonderman, longstanding Ryanair chairman - O'Leary is the Chief Executive - and his Texas Pacific hedge fund (which is what it is), who provided much of the capital for Ryanair's expansion. Actually I find both of them, although grating in personality and pronouncements, a couple of the most competent airline executives there have ever been.

I read that M O'L is going ballistic because the local authority which includes DUB is trying to make the airport enforce the limitation on night flights included in its planning permission.

More detail here https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c72vlp7q44lo
I'm sure a few airports in UK would love to have a limit of 65 flights between 23:00 & 07:00.

Aircraft interiors
 

Something I've noticed on several flights with FR of late: when flying on aircraft with the new sky interior, some aircraft have 'Ryanair' across the overhead bins (pretty standard I thought), but there are several a/c I've flown on where the bins are just plain white without the FR branding. Does anyone know if this is purely random, or whether certain aircraft (e.g. newer deliveries) now lack the FR branding on the luggage bins? Personally, I think having all-white bins adds to the simplicity of the cabin and makes it look a lot smarter.

Dry those tears O’Leary, this was probably in the original Section 106 drafted for the new runway many years ago!

It says so in the article:
"The cap was among the planning conditions that were imposed when the airport was granted permission to build a new "North Runway" in 2007."

So long ago, no doubt someone had either forgotten or hoped that it would be

probably saves 50 gram per bin on paint - it all adds up ................ MOL is not a man to miss an advantage of any sort

and of course you can get plain white bins on Amazon I'm sure for a lower price than elsewhere

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest haha, but on this occasion, it makes the interior look nicer from a passenger point of view. Hope they do this on more incoming aircraft.

Ryanair makes friends again!
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66500479

The company's website is a disgrace. It's fiendishly complicated, with all of the add-ons it pushes at the user, and full of "gotchas" for the less capable customers.

I was checking in for a flight this morning, for an out-and-back trip tomorrow, and, as well as going through all of the hoops to complete the process, I have to do the same again this evening for the return sector, as there would be a fee to check in for that flight more than 24 hours ahead.

It's interesting that the site now makes a virtue of telling you that unless you pay, you most likely won't be sitting with your travelling companion/s. I remember that when the random seating model was first applied, the company strenuously denied that there was any intent to split up families or others on the one booking.

I really feel for that couple :( I also agree with earlier comments- from my own experience when travelling with FR, the website is functional (I'd argue their app is even easier to use when checking in), but I absolutely loathe the fact that the booking process is diabolical, being bombarded with additional (chargeable) add-ons, one after another, making the process much more tedious than needs be. FR had been investing in their 'Always Getting Better' initiatives which were working well (unsure if these have been stopped now), but I can see it being enough to put some people off, especially elderly or less seasoned flyers. Even business passengers don't want the hassle of having to go through a long-winded booking process, especially if they are frequent flyers.

Why have an airport open 24 hours when there is no 24 hour transport for arriving / departing passengers.

It's one of the few airports in Europe without a rail link.

They actually have to use a fleet of polluting tanker trucks to deliver aviation fuel from Dublin port to the airport. How Eco friendly is that? They don't have a pipeline.

They have a monopoly on car parks and can charge what they want.

They don't care about noise restrictions and residents trying to get sleep.

I agree with the planners enforcing conditions. I agree with the competition authority investigating a monopoly in car parking. The DAA are a business trying to make money not presenting you with clean toilets.

A friend of mine from Canada recently flew Ryanair one way between the UK and The Netherlands. He paid £19 for the fare and was then charged £32 at the airport for his carry on bag (a standard size carry-on btw). For the rest it was OK for a 40 minute flight he said. Personally I never fly on that airline. I have found better options!

The thing about FR: I have found flying with them to become that much more enjoyable (dare I say it!) in recent years, as they definitely seem less strict on hand baggage size versus before they got their 'always getting better' programme going - and certainly less strict compared to Wizz. I do also appreciate that they have an impressive coverage of Europe, and fly to small regional airports that other airlines do not with decent timings. For example, I use the STN-PSR route fairly often to see family, and FR are the only airline who fly to Pescara from London.

However, on the flip side, I do find that they are now not always the cheapest carrier on routes with more competition (i.e primary airports) once all taxes and baggage fees have been taken into account. I've sometimes found flights with BA for example that are cheaper than FR fares. Plus it gives me a chance to avoid STN wherever possible, as it has become a zoo under MAG.

There is 24 hour public transport between Dublin airport to the city centre and Swords.

Granted that for some Ryanair are the most convenient carrier to use. I'm lucky in that where I live I have the luxury of several airports and multiple carriers to choose from. Incidentally, I don't fly Wizz either.

Sadly there is no such thing as a standard size carry on .... each carrier has their own sizing and Ryanair and Wizz are amongst the most strict. It pays (literally) to read all the fine print on the baggage section of the website ... and you can't be sure that it will remain constant from one day to the next!

... and I did enjoy their AGB period ... because it seemed to be happening. Not so sure now.

True. But there's basically nothing if you need to travel outside the pale.

Also true. That's something that should be regulated IMHO – it's crazy that every airline has different rules.

The UK CAA has always stipulated this must be handled properly

Quote:

---

The seating of children close by their parents or guardians should be the aim of airline seat allocation procedures for family groups and large parties of children.

---

Airline seating allocations | Civil Aviation Authority (caa.co.uk)

Presumably Ryanair UK's (at least) AOC stipulates they must comply with the CAA's requirements. Does the IAA have comparable requirements ?

The UK CAA has always stipulated this must be handled properly

Quote:

---

The seating of children close by their parents or guardians should be the aim of airline seat allocation procedures for family groups and large parties of children.

---

Airline seating allocations | Civil Aviation Authority (caa.co.uk)

Presumably Ryanair UK's (at least) AOC stipulates they must comply with the CAA's requirements. Does the IAA have comparable requirements ?

Can anybody remember when in 2022 FR had published their schedule for virtually all routes that would operate summer 2023 ? Memory says mid October 2022... but not sure if this is correct. I know that early September was too early

Big expansion for BOH in summer 2024
 

According to my contact BOH is in line for some big expansion in 2024 possibly to dissuade people from going into SOU. I heard it’s AT LEAST 2 additional aircraft taking the base to 4.

I recently flew on a Ryanair Max 737-8200 within the space of a month. One A/C was only a year old, the other aircraft three years old.
I was sat around row 31/32 on both flights and was shocked to see how much dampness / mould was in and around the panel above the emergency exit doors at rows 28/29.
The dirt was also present on the emergency exit sign above the door.
From the outside of the aircraft, at this door it's clearly dirty for such a young aircraft.

Is this a known problem for this specific door on this particular variant of the Max?
No good for the health of the crew member having to sit next to that door and of course the passengers around it!


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ccd85c8cc7.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....173a3899be.jpg

If it was a design fault you would expct to see posts on other forums highlighting the same issue.

Sorry if its being mentioned befor but do ye know when S24 will be on sale?

Just waiting for ORK/SNN to come on sale fully

Michael O'Leary pied in the face

Ryanair boss pied in the face by protesters (msn.com)

After the closure in in 2015, CPH will be yet again a base starting December with 2 based aircraft.

CRL will have 17 based aircraft this winter.

Hi there. a quick question for those with experience at Ryanair. Are they open to recruiting cadets who are a bit older? Lots of posts in the wannabies section but sadly, none of us wannabies actually know the answer. Do those with experience at Ryanair recall seeing any new low hour pilots joining at Ryanair? Many thanks to you all. Any insights are much appreciated.

Someone I did my PPL with got into Ryanair about 12 months ago and is currently flying with them as a FO. Not sure of your definition of 'a bit older', but he is in his mid 40s.

Mid 40's was exactly what I had in mind. Thank you for replying. Good to know there are routes forward for those in my age bracket. Like many others, I'm apprehensive about taking to the plunge to invest in the training. Thanks for your insights.

I've been thinking about FR's policy of "no refunds if you don't fly" and wondering if this is (sometimes) a mistake. FR depends heavily on ancillaries - the people who are just a simple low-fare-bum-on-seat-without-ancillaries are not desirable unless the flight has a load factor well under 90%
Furthermore, a no-refunds policy discourages ticket sales if a person is unsure if they will fly or not.

I'm wondering if FR should experiment by emailing people who have booked a very low fare without ancillaries, offering a partial rebate as a non-refundable limited-life FR voucher if ticket sales are heading to a load factor of at least 90%. Essentially offer a targetted payoff to the least profitable customers (and nobody else) who no longer want to fly to sell their seat back to FR, and enable FR to resell the seat to a more profitable customer. By issuing a FR voucher, the money can still be recognised as FR revenue and won't leak outside the company. Data collected from customer's profiles will show who tends not to book ancillaries like baggage, further helping identify the bookings that FR probably won't find profitable.

Yes, FR could achieve this by overbooking, but no-show rates are always a bit unpredictable. Particularly on low frequency routes, the EU261 compensation bill makes denied boarding expensive relative to the fare for LCCs - which would push FR to being more cautious on overbooking than they might otherwise need to be.

Any thoughts ?

Of course it doesn't make sense to give refunds. If it did, Ryanair would already do it.

Very few people go through the trouble of getting a refund for airport taxes, which means that the revenue from no shows goes almost directly to the bottom line, as there are very few costs involved in it for Ryanair.

Ryanair, like any other large airline, has algorithms that predict the number of no shows on any given flight. Sure, ithey get it wrong occasionally, but by and large it's a numbers game.

Ancillary revenue has costs attached, which no shows don't. As for encouraging further bookings with refunds, people will not think twice about booking their next 10-20 € fare, no matter the lack of refund.

If Ryanair did as DJ6 suggests, they may as well buy out the £10 fares on popular flights close to departure and sell the seats for £200!

LGS understands what I mean. This should happen only on flights which initially have weaker-than-expected demand but then nearer departure date sell more strongly than predicted. Better to sell a £200 fare plus (potentially) luggage and give the person who paid £20 and who never pays for baggage, seat selection or other highly profitable ancillaries a voucher in exchange for cancelling (formally) their right to fly. Of course, the passenger who paid £20 has to agree to this voluntarily - but I'm guessing that some who paid peanuts three months in advance for a ticket will know a week before departure that they are very unlikely to show up for the flight and will happily take a voucher.
You can use all kinds of algorithms including AI (and yes, I can talk for hours about deep learning) to predict the number of no-shows... but you always get better outcomes to algorithmic results if you apply a bit of human insight.

Seems that Breeze have a similar idea:

https://simpleflying.com/breeze-airw...-ticket-sales/

Trouble at home?
https://www.nova.ie/ryanair-pull-17-...t-hike-234732/

Yield Management is a bit more sophisticated than that. £10 fares (which incidentally I have never encountered myself, and have only met one person who got one) are only offered on flights where it is not expected to have demand beyond capacity at higher prices. There may be an occasional mismatch here, but they are sufficiently infrequent that it's no real concern, or revenue impact, and any such are analysed to see if the calculation needs to be changed.

No, marketing nonsense.
https://www.dublinairport.com/latest...-by-45-in-2024