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?