Dutch TV reports on 'Ryanair pilots denominated alarm over safety'

[BEagle]

Ryanair has the highest rate of customer satisfaction compared with the other airlines

Hardly. In a recent Which? magazine survey, they came 16th out of 16 short haul airlines, with a customer score of a mere 34%.

[A and C]

Dannyagilla

I have never said that I think the way Ryanair treat their pilots is good in terms of the general bullying atmosphere inside the company, I have supported the right to remunerate the pilots in any legal way that they choose, if that is by contracting then so be it. I know that you disagree with me on the contracting issue but until the EU gets a common policy on the issue people will take advantage of the most favorable state to operate in.

The airline that I work for has one of the best safety cultures that I have had the pleasure to work in, for me this is a normal working atmosphere but for the Southern European cabin crew it is a positive culture shock, they tell me that they get far more respect with us than they got when working for local operators.

BEagal

Thank you for that I was just about to quote the same report, it is clear to me that price alone is the reason for traveling with Ryanair and so they make a fortune from moving around the great unwashed of Europe who know no better than to look at the headline price and by the time they get to the checkout have forgotten what the extras added up to !

[Thunderbirdsix]

Bet this news will make all the Ryanair haters on this board mad its unreal the amount of people on this forum that hate Ryanair wonder if its beause its Irish. Personally I am very proud of them and they way they turned the Aviation industry on its head to allow cheap flights to everyone that were unable to afford them before Ryanair started.

04.12.12

Ryanair To Grow 400,000 Pax & 400 Jobs In Scotland In 2013

6 NEW ROUTES, 1.8M PASSENGERS (1,800 JOBS) AT EDINBURGH

2 NEW ROUTES, 1.4M PASSENGERS (1,400 JOBS) AT PRESTWICK

Ryanair, Europe’s only ultra-low cost airline, today (4 Dec) announced significant summer 2013 growth in Scotland, with 38 routes (6 new) at Edinburgh and 27 routes (2 new) at Glasgow Prestwick, which will deliver a combined total of over 3m passengers and sustain over 3,000* “on site jobs” at both Edinburgh and Glasgow Prestwick airports.

Ryanair cut its winter 2012 schedule at Edinburgh following the breakdown of cost negotiations with the previous owners of Edinburgh, the BAA. After reaching agreement with Edinburgh Airport’s new owners, Global Infrastructure Partners, Ryanair will now grow again at Edinburgh as follows:

• 38 routes (up 11%).
• 6 new routes to/from Bologna, Beziers, Cagliari, Corfu, Katowice & Santander
• Increased frequencies on 5 other routes
• From 232 to 246 weekly flights (up 5%).
• From 1.6m to 1.8m pax p.a (up 11%).
• 1,800* jobs at Edinburgh Airport.

Ryanair will also grow at Glasgow Prestwick as follows:

• 27 routes (up 7%).
• 2 new routes to/from Rzeszow & Warsaw Modlin
• Increased frequencies on 4 other routes
• From 86 to 95 weekly flights (up 10%).
• From 1.2m to 1.4m pax p.a (up 6%).
• 1,400* jobs at Edinburgh Airport.

[fireflybob]

Thunderbirdsix, have you ever worked for Ryanair?

[Thunderbirdsix]

Thunderbirdsix, have you ever worked for Ryanair?

No never worked for them but know two pilots and two cabin crew working for them who are very happy there , have flown with them lots of times never had a bad flight or met a cabin crew member in a so called bad mood, I have always felt very safe with Ryanair and always will in my personal opinion the are no 1.

Nuff said

[Aldente]

1800 jobs at Edinburgh?

WTF ?????

Surely no one believes this sh*t !

[Lord Spandex Masher]

Originally Posted by Thunderbirdsix

Personally I am very proud of them and they way they turned the Aviation industry on its head to allow cheap flights to everyone that were unable to afford them before Ryanair started.

Yes, I much prefer carrying the chavy, pissed, ignorant, uneducated sponger to Ibiza than the well dressed, polite, educated, well mannered couple on their once in a lifetime holiday.

[A and C]

thunderbirdsix

All that tells us is that you are happy to endure a very low standard of service based on a small cash saving over the opposition.

Having traveled Ryanair once or twice I have never found them good value for money unless you fly in the low season.

In the middle of the summer holidays when all the costs of getting to Stansted from the other side of London for a flight to Perpignan for three people were taken into account it was cheaper do the flight in my Robin DR400.......... And quicker door to door.

The real success story about Ryanair is not the product but the way they sell it.

[Herod]

Yes, I much prefer carrying the chavy, pissed, ignorant, uneducated sponger to Ibiza than the well dressed, polite, educated, well mannered couple on their once in a lifetime holiday.

Since you never actually have any direct contact with them, does it make any difference? When I'm flying from Stansted to Gothenberg with Ryan I'm not unwashed, chavvy, pissed or ignorant. I'm taking the flight from my nearest airport to the one nearest to where I want to go. Enough said.

[PH-Chucky]

@Thunderbirdsix

There's nothing wrong with making your product cheap by eliminating free food/drinks, selling lotterytickets and fee's for using website/creditcard/bagage. If that's what people want, than Ryanair has done a great job in changing the product of flying. No bad word about that part of the story!!

But it's not about that, it's about how Ryanair is changing it's relationship with its personnel in a very drastic way by eliminating all employers responsibilities and giving its crews no financial and/or job assurance.... It's not what the pilots want, but what the company wants because it's currently their turn in a world that's overcrowded with job-seeking pilots who are willing to sell their mother to find any job in a cockpit...

Are you accepting that employers are taking advantage of this situation by letting its personnel bend forward with their pants on their knees? It's a matter of time before these employees can kiss their own ass goodbye...

If you know people who are happy working for Ryanair, than it's because they are probably on old contracts with good T&C's and work from the base they prefer. Certainly not the youngsters who are into 150K+ debts and are maybe flying only 500hr a year on a disgraceful hourly pay and traveling from hotel to hotel doing SBY's on their own expenses....

But your friends are probably those who are only looking forward sitting in a lighthouse and sadly overlooking the situation that takes place very nearby with the freshmen they fly with on a daily base....

[nathanroberts2K8]

Know a pilot that works for RRY, I hope for his sake that the various rumours
and or reported incidents are not something passengers should be overrly alarmed at.

I don't personally see an issue with extra fuel onboard with extra scruitiny post flight on the fuel consumption used as a pose to "here, this is your fuel, use it wisely" - not so prudent if an emergency situation or bad weather develops. All fuel will be used regardless if its in the pump or it is in the aircraft.

Just my unqualified thoughts.

[golfyankeesierra]

doing SBY's on their own expenses....

I hope you are exaggerating. Sitting standby without pay?
I've read a lot about Ryanair, but surely this is not true?

[172_driver]

I hope you are exaggerating. Sitting standby without pay?
I've read a lot about Ryanair, but surely this is not true?

Oh it's true… for contractors (the majority of pilots). Kinda crap when 4 out of 5 working days are STBY too during low season.

[Squawk-7600]

If that's what people want, than Ryanair has done a great job in changing the product of flying.

While that line is often spewed forth by those in the PR department, as if it is solely responsible for reducing airfares in Europe. The reality is that Ryanair was not in fact the first "low-cost" airline in the world. Deregulation and restructuring of the airline industry within Europe some years ago arguably had far greater effect on airfares than any single company.

[Lord Spandex Masher]

Originally Posted by Herod

Since you never actually have any direct contact with them, does it make any difference? When I'm flying from Stansted to Gothenberg with Ryan I'm not unwashed, chavvy, pissed or ignorant. I'm taking the flight from my nearest airport to the one nearest to where I want to go. Enough said.

If they are insulting or aggressive towards my crew and offended other passengers I like to tell them face to face that they aren't travelling and to let them know why. So I do have direct contact with them. Try flying from anywhere in the UK to somewhere in Spain, I recommend Ibiza, and you'll see.

Nobody has ever had to have words with Mabel and George for being too polite have they?

Enough said?

[criss]

One idea for all these RYR threads. At the beginning of a post, state your level of experience regarding RYR. Would be interesting to see. Just guessing most of the posters are writing about their imaginations, not reality.

3 RYR a/c declared mayday over fuel - dreadful. Just remind me, how many flights day have per day.

[Microburst2002]

sorry for insisting

Important cuestion about ryr and fuel policy
I have heard of the repressive atmosphere in RYR when you can be sacked so easily for things such as declining to continue a flight for flight duty considerations or fatigue or for excessive fuel uplift...

What happens to a pilot who diverts early to the alternate for fuel reasons? will he be called to a meeting, sacked, degraded, or punished in any way or nothing at all?

The answer to this question is the key to judge the RYR policy as safe or unsafe.

Because RYR says basically that they prefer you to divert occasionally than carrying extra fuel that in the end you don't use it in every flight. But this is only acceptable is there is no pressure on captains when it comes to a diversion decision, specially if you make the decision early, as it should be done as compared with conventional airlines since RYR airplanes have less fuel. I mean, with just the minimum fuel you don't have time for holdings. You have to make the decision right away and it should be a good decision.

So: are they under pressure to land at destination or not?

[Lord Spandex Masher]

Of course they are. That's their job, it's the reason airlines exist. To get people to their destination of choice. If there's no pressure to do so what would be the point of even existing?

You'd have millions of aircraft swanning all over Europe completely aimlessly. Well the aim would be to find a runway, any runway will do, because we don't have to go anywhere in particular.

[Aldente]

English subtitled version now available on KRO website and before everyone jumps in and starts to say what they would or wouldn't do, as an ex Ryanair Captain myself, I can strongly empathise with everything that's been said.

It's one thing viewing this as an outsider but quite another to be working there yourself.

Reporter - Mayday Mayday Part 2 - English version

[pilotsince99]

Just saw a similar German documentary:

Die teuren Tricks der Billigflieger

This is all in German and the beginning is sort of what we know, but if you scroll to 33.07, it shows a letter send from a base captain to one of the pilots about being in the lowest ranking with regards to fuel uplift. I guess this where we should start to get worried with pressure being put on captains, not to be in the lowest 10%.

Someone in Ryanair could perhaps explain if these letters are being send out on a monthly basis or not, because there will always be winners and losers.What if weather has been very bad the week you had to work, you can automatically expect one?