Is Ryanair that bad??
 

Much comment has been made on this forum re the short comings of Ryanair.

It seems however that the paying public continues to like (?) or at least support them.

Record Ryanair passenger figures


Ryanair carried a record four million passengers in August, the airline said yesterday. A 23 per cent rise in its traffic from 3.3 million in the same month last year meant that it was the first airline to carry more than four million international passengers in a single month.

The record numbers were achieved despite a security alert that sparked chaos at British airports. Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, claimed that bookings fell by about 10 per cent in the week of the security scare.

I don't like what is perceived to be a very authoritative and assertive management style and a lot of their marketing tactics. A good example of this is their claim that they are always "No.1 for Customer Service", and then basing this on "Flights on Time" and "Lost Bags" - as if these are the only two things that are important when considering customer service. Their actual face to face and telephone customer service is, in my experience, pretty hopeless.

Despite all this and also the lack of professionalism demonstrated by Ryanair cabin crew I have witnessed on various occasions (laughing during safety briefings, shouting at passengers, etc) I will continue to fly with them because even with all the extra charges they tack on to their basic fares, they still often end up much cheaper than any of their competitors (even Easyjet); their "out of the way" airports are often actually very convenient for where I need to go; and importantly, nobody can deny they have an excellent safety record.

Do a quick google for Ryanair and court cases, and you make get a more truthful perspective.
Many people have varying opinions, but it is a mistake to assume that Ryanair are always much cheaper. They are often more expensive than say, EZY or BA.

Do a quick search on pprune, and many threads will be thrown up, possibly giving you a feel for the way the airline works.

In particular, with reference to pprune, I would see this thread;

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showpos...4&postcount=35

In terms of how they do business and treat their staff, see this link and read through all the posts;

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=234377


For other info, there are several links on this post to give you a 'feel' for Ryanair

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showpos...4&postcount=88

As a very frequent flyer, I will on occasion use budget airlines, as some like AirBerlin (I have heard) and flybe (I know) are quite good. In the USA airlines like JetBlue are very good, and southwest themselves take exception to Ryanair comparing themselves with them (even though they don't compete). I would never use Ryanair.

No, they aren't that bad, they generally get you to your destination on time and there is no doubting that they are cheap. Though often there is not a lot of price difference between FR and some legacy carriers.

That said it's a fact that their customer service backup is not of the same quality of some other more established airlines. Also, I do have a problem giving money to any organisation which treats their staff as poorly as FR.

If ryanair were so bad to their staff why arnt they leaving
in there droves and getting jobs with other airlines

It cant be that bad as if it were they would be canx flights
left right and centre just like another low cost airline
not saying who but are orange

RYR are the best thing to have happend to aviation EVER they
have given tom dick and harry and their friend the true joy
of european travel for a very low price

Longtimer I would encourage you to read the other threads about FR. There will be no overall agreement about them - and no reason why there should be. However, this thread in it's four entires has already covered most everything that gets said about FR and it gets repeated in every thread. Hopefully this thread will get merged with the others.

To be honest, the only way in which you could hope to generate more replies that then repeat what has already been said a dozen times, would be to ask, "Which is better Boeing or Airbus?" !!! :rolleyes:

Pax Boy
 

Boeing By Miles

Airbus by kilometres

Vickers, by several furlongs, you cheeky young upstarts.

NS
Who are Vickers ? :eek: Don't they build ships or something :E

Are Ryanair that bad?

Yes ....... or no

Depending what your perspective is.

PS: Bring back the Dassault Mercure - it was years ahead of its time!

Longtimer,

You don't get a very good flavour of the airline on here, best way to find out is try them and see for yourself. Plenty of sub £5 base fares out there. The most expensive, riskiest, and frustrating part of your journey will probably be the trip to the airport. A day trip to Dublin is pretty easy to do from many parts of the UK, so just try it. If you don't like them then spend your money somewhere else.

Daz211 I do not know where you live but I this is exactly what is happening! FR have one of the highest turnover of employees!!

So many people, especially cabin crew, cannot wait to get out of FR. Many of them succeed and get into other airlines (EZY, BA, VS etc etc). I have met lots of ex-FR cabin crew who have gone where the grass is greener, and where they are treated as human beings, where they have feasible rosters and are not obliged to scream "scratch cards" every time they walk down the aisle.

It was!! I saw one during a Paris air-show and it was amazing, in my opinion much better than the airbus!! It looked very much like the A320 but with 737-200 engines :E
(sorry for the diversion.....)

Flybywire
 

So if cc are leaving in there droves why is there no problem
with flight canx you would think going by "tangos" standards
that they would have to canx about 3 flights a day at each base
but no and yet they announce new routes almost on a weekly
basis your statement does not make sence

I have said there's a huge turnover of staff. I didn't say they do not have enough staff. My statement makes perfect sense, even considering their opening new routes every week.

Most of the latest aquisitions are people from eastern europe, they are on a different contract than the old original FR contract and are paid peanuts for working maximum hours. Most of the people who apply for FR cabin crew see it as a stepping stone and leave after a year (if they resist that much).
Now I know that it depends on bases, however STN for what they have told me (friends and colleagues ex-FR emplyees) is the worst.

Their recruiting is ongoing and in case you didn't know that, cabin crew have to pay for their own training. Expenses can be as much as 3,000 Euros.

The workforce's conditions might have nothing to do with whether passengers like FR or not, however as a cabin crew myself I am appalled by the t&c that FR gives to their employees and I am not surprised that they have such a huge turnover of staff.

Nothing more, nothing else.

FBW

Flybywire

Do other airlines, like BA or Easyjet for example, make cabin crew pay for their own training ?

charging cc for training sounds a good thing to me
maybe thats where easyjet are going wrong and
for the wannabee cc im sure they are told they
have to pay before they do the training or are you telling me
that they train, then get the job, then get told they
have to pay.

It stands to reason that STN has more problems as its there
main base with a masive amount of traffic

I having worked at stansted for a long time and know alot
of RYR cc who are happy and have been for a long time
its like all jobs in all sectors people like to move on
ask anyone in the street, do you like your job and would
you leave for better pay I guess over 70% dont like their
jobs and would leave for better pay

but you cant be saying that RYR should pay like VS or BA.

can anyone give a good reason why RYR should not charge for training
after all they dont go and drag you in off the street you have to make
the first move and apply

Daz, one of the most important values of any organisation is the treatment and worth of their staff, the view of many such organisations is that investment in it's employees is an investment in the company, in fact most professional companies pride themselves on their ability to provide comprehensive training to improve and widen the prospects of employees, this is good business sense. In addition, once you have established yourself as a high quality employer you attract better quality candidates, therefore allowing you to increase the quality of your product further.

I don't know if you manage people, I do and I can tell you it's very difficult. I also manage a large operating budget and I can tell you managing people is a lot harder. My organisation doesn't have a large turnover of staff because we have an established policy of 'taking care' of our employees, If one of my staff has a problem then so do I and so does my boss because that affects our end product. Management is all about recruiting the right people, getting them to do what you want effectively and then keeping them, it isn't about saving a couple of thousand euros on day one because good employees are long term.

With regard to this particular policy of charging for training what about RYR paying the costs of those who are successful and then putting something in their contracts saying if they leave within XX number of months it has to be repaid ? this is a little more common in todays world and infinitely more reasonable.

SXB
 

I do understand what you are saying but cc dont want to stay with
loco's its a fact, I know RYR have alot of things in the contract
that people dont like, its a well know fact that cc use loco's as stepping stones so why not charge them for the hop on the ladder.
once againg they are not forced to join!
RYR is a business after all and is out to make money
and they seem to be good at it so who are we to say
they are going about it the wrong way.
In a ideal world we would all like a job that makes us happy
but in real life to get to somewhere we are happy we might just
have to take some sh:mad: t along the way