Thanks for the info sAX!

The same supine behaviour was exhibited by the World's Favourite board of directors in '97 as one Robert Ayling unveiled his wonderful tailfins fiasco costing northwards of £60 million and failed to make one penny in extra profits whilst making a once great airline the laughing stock of the planet.

Time for these obsequious grovellers to stand up to the MOLs and the Wee Willys of the industry and to tell them the party is over? Hell will freeze over.

It is time for Ryanair to get a real cross-functional Deputy CEO, with a seat on the board, so it can work on more options for the future. O'Leary would keep an eye on proceedings and work as a back-out plan until some years down the line he could take his rightful place as a working Chairman.
This person would need to have experience from how all parts of the airline functions, be focused on the core values but at the same time be a person of trust/truth and have creative ideas on how to adjust the path.

Fare sale
 

Was looking about a week ago to get away at October half term from EMA to NOC to visit family. My leave from work was not yet authorised so was just getting a feel for prices.

I couldn't find a pair of flights making a 3 or 4 night stay for less than £335 return base fare for 3 people.

Since then my leave has been ok'd and yesterday I booked a return trip with 3 nights away, the cost was £136 for 3 people return including priority boarding and seat reservations.

You can also buy jeans for £2 made by some children in some far off seat shop. You can buy chicken for £2 kept in prisons and who have never seen a beam of sunshine in their lives.

Why do people feel smug by buying an airline ticket for zilch and their mates are paying proper prices on another carrier. Where does this feeling of superiority one from. Someone has had to pay for your cheap product. There is never something for nothing. Let's all go for dinner at McDonalds and not the local bistro.

Ryanair pilots are getting ready for war
 

Not feeling smug or superior. I would have paid the higher fare if my leave had been authorised.

I posted to demonstrate what they are doing with fares.

Going to see family from local airport to local airport, Ryanair have monopoly on the route

Crisis-hit Ryanair 'needs 3,300 more pilots to hit targets' - Independent.ie

That's a lot of pilots! I'd imagine the number to be even larger if they can't reduce the number of pilots leaving every year!

Yeah, but it was pretty damn funny.

I really hope this is true. If they all stick together there is nothing MOL can do about it but to agree with their demands.

On a side note, I hope the FR crew will bring the entire fleet to a standstill for at least 24 hours to squeeze MOL's :mad:

No chance in hell that will happen. First i do not believe they will stick together, and secondly, MOL will rather resign than give in to pilots.

This is a pure numbers game. X a/c need Y pilots. Because of expansion plans they'll need Z instructors working in XX simulators over YY weeks to achieve the training plan to cover known resignations/retirements & new airframes arriving.

What is unknown is how many will leave in the coming 4 years. They can include an estimate in the calculation. Training new cadets is limited to certain times of day, e.g. no night shifts. As the cadets are being churned out of the sausage machine there need to be new captains. That requires TRI's (captains) in the later stages, the cases only SFI's. (F/O's). Simulators are full already.
RYR say they will hire 600 pilots by May next year. They are already in the pipeline. They seem to suggest these 600 will be extra. Impossible. I'm sure many SFI's are quitting teaching to complete their own command courses. That adds to the problem that more SFI's will need training up, and that takes TRI's. All in all these processes are not quick. Recruiting cadets and them being ready for line checking is >6 months. To recruit & train a new SFI to be released for solo teaching is >2 months.
This is not a 'mis-management of rostering department'. The expansion plans and recruitment plans come from higher up; the very top. You can have all the a/c you want, but you need pilots and for that you need trainers & for that you need simulators and for all that you need time. Time & resources are what top management is all about; and they can not create time. May, next summer season, is just around the corner.

Another "genius" idea from the FR management?

Many cabin crews are reporting that the "not suitable for drinking" stickers above the water taps in the galleys are being covered up.
I guess the crew can't complain about not having water anymore.

UK TV showing Ryanair advertisement this morning ... 'seats from £14.99' ....

QUOTE:
This is a pure numbers game. X a/c need Y pilots.

Really?

Why not 2X pilots x K,

where K is an averaged constant to allow for aircraft being in use for more hours in the year in the year than is allowed for pilots, and for senior pilots providing oversight as required. This keeps the "pure numbers" simpler.

To be fair if you want cheap clothes made in a sweatshop you go to Primark, if you want to eat cheap battery chicken you go to KFC, if you want to be flown cheaply by crew who are treated like crap you go to Ryanair. I don't think the airline has ever tried to be anything other than the 'Sports Direct' of the airline industry.

That being said, the pilots have a chance to make some good changes and I cannot imagine they will be given the chance to have this opportunity again. The winter schedule will be setting in soon so they need to act and act now if they are going to.

If they do manage to force MOL out then that will send a clear message to all the other little schemers in the company and should prove a turning point. If they do not then I would expect repercussions later.

smug with a cheap air fare...?
 

Smugness has nothing to do with it. There is a sector of society with little disposal income. I do know this because I am within it. These people will take advantage of ultra low airfare offers to travel........and if these offers are not available they stay at home. That's all there is to that aspect of the low fares.....smugness......no.

Lovely:

Ryanair cabin crew told to move to Europe for six weeks at their own expense or go without pay | The Independent

Nothing will change. Ryr pilots never had a spine and if they would have stand up a long time ago there already would have been several unions. This whole story will blow over and as soon as the media stops reporting about it the general public won't talk about it anymore.

This is indeed the ryr pilots only chance to change things, sad that many don't realize that. Partly also because many don't care about the airline and their T&C. Loads of FO's are just there to make hours and a bit of money and then move on to a better airline. There is no intention to make ryr a better airline.

Have you actually spoken to any Ryanair pilots recently about the matter, or did you just pull this opinion out of your bottom?

Well, the MightyAtom. If they plan to act they must act fast and use the momentum they have in the media. I can already tell the media is slowly losing interest and up until now no actions. As soon as the winter schedule kicks in its business as usual.

Media momentum
 

Even if the media would go quiet now, a new momentum will resurface by default when the first (organized) industrial action takes place. Even if it were to be radio silence for the next days or weeks, media attention will pick up 'as soon as'. It has to: industrial action in the biggest airliner in Europe and not covering it? No way.

I don't think the airline has ever tried to be anything other than the 'Sports Direct' of the airline industry.

And I'ver always wondered why the UK government has paid so much attention to it, including having the CEO in front of an MP committee to explain himself, and to attack the policy of zero-hour contracts. If they put Sports D under the spotlight and harangue and embarrass the boss why not the same with RYR? It could be it's an Irish registered company, but it's largest base is in UK, so UK MP's can have a say on behalf of their constituents.

The issue with that is Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom.

Two RYR 73s wearing out the (newly re-furbed runway surface) at SNN yet again today in the desperate race to qualify new pilots. Not seen circuit work on this scale for years!

A fact lost on many. :D

It's unfair to call the Ryanair pilots spineless behind the comfort of proper contracts, labour laws and union representation.

I welcome the new ECJ (European Court of Justice) ruling and the ERC letter where several base representatives demand local contracts. That should level the playing field to other, serious, employers.

Depends which part of the island of Ireland you’re referring to :}. Anyway back to the thread!

Why would you have those stickers in the first place - its potable water :confused:

The issue with that is Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom.

It could be it's an Irish registered company, but it's largest base is in UK, so UK MP's can have a say on behalf of their constituents.

Which is exactly why I added the last sentance caveat. Are you suggesting UK governement has no 'duty of care' or influence or jurisdiction over its citizens working within its own borders allbeit for a foreign registered company?

So they can sell bottled water. Simple

Fairly pointless cleaning your aircraft potable water systems if you can't verify the cleanliness of the next truck that refills your system.

Its about good enough to flush the toilet with and that's as far as I would go with ours.

During my time in engineering we cleaned the potable water system every month. All filters were removed and the system flushed with a cleaning agent followed by chlorine. This was left in the system for a couple of hours and then the system was flushed with clean water untill the chlorine levels were within a certain band. When all this was completed, new filters would be installed and the aircraft was good to go.

EMERGENCY

This thread is dying. So is the interest in this subject in the mainstream media. Something must be done NOW, before we lose momentum and this window of opportunity.
MOL has almost won. (again)

Before you know it, you could be discussing potable water systems cleaning procedures.

clearly you don't have clue what's going on

Am I suggesting that? Umm no, are you putting words into my mouth? The tone of your post suggests you're having a baby over my statement, maybe you could enlighten us considering you clearly know more about it.

From the travelling public point of view, Ryanair have handled the situation in an exemplary manner. Media interest wanes.

Pilot shortage isn't a myth and isn't a Ryanair only problem. Media interest wanes.

Taking Wing: What Pilot Shortage? | Flying Magazine

It would be interesting to know whether, and how many, pilots took up this offer.

RYR flight and cabin crew, take action NOW.
If you don,t stand on your rights, O Lairy and his management bandits will take revenge on the pilots and cabin crew who did want to stretch out their necks and your conditions might even further decline. This could also be a signal for other airlines too that the management can do what they want for in further reducing the salaries and working conditions, as the pilots and cabin crew still keep on flying for them.
Take the USA as an example, their the unions are much stronger and the working conditions at the majors are much better.
Fight for yourself and the whole EU aviation community!