As an aviator I feel I should support my fellow pilots, particularly those who work their butts off in the low cost airline business in Europe.
I have read much about what in my view are the very unsavoury employment practices of Ryanair in particular. One particular message from Ryanair’s management suggested that as their crews only work 18 hours a week they could never suffer from fatigue (the 18 hours is flight time only). I wonder what else I can do to help their pilots and cabin crew other than refusing to ever travel on that airline and advise my family and friends of my reasons. Although I am not fond of unions this is one business that seems to need a good strong one to negotiate on their pilots’ behalf.
Anyone else here feel similarly supportive to their cause?
Yes – as long as the current boss man is in power they will not get my custom – these poor sods even have to pay for their own coffee.
Sorry, no, not at all. This is a GA forum, nothing to do with airline staff. And as for “paying for one’s own coffee” well I have to, too, though working at a much more “glorious” place than a low-cost airline where such is only to be expected.
I use Ryanair only as a no other option airline.
Re the coffee. Easyjet sacked an hosti for stealing a drink (X1 Coffee) that apparently was given to her by the cabin manager. She won the court case was compensated. I think that as a whole the airlines are not a great place to work and I am fairly happy for refusing all the carrots that were thrown my way years ago.
Jan, sorry, I know it’s a GA forum, but the point I made was that we are all aviators, some professional some very amateur, and maybe should support each other in a spirit of camaraderie.
I have never been an airline pilot, and do pay for my own coffee…I wouldn’t think of charging the people who work in my business for their’s though.
It’s a perfectly good discussion topic for EuroGA.
Many people who read EuroGA become airline pilots.
As for my opinion… my feeling is that one day people will realise it is worth paying a bit more for a better service. For some reason which keeps escaping me, this never seems to happen 
I do pay extra for a flight which departs 9am (get out of bed 6am) rather than 6am (get out of bed 3am and waste the first day being half dead) but that’s not really a Ryanair-specific issue; it is just a general low-cost airline issue.
For all their bizzare practices, these airlines don’t seem to have problems attracting young men and women. The reason given tends to be that while the starting pay is poor, you do progress to higher grades pretty fast.
I did a weekly schlepp Bergamo-Luton-Bergamo for many years – always with Ryanair, one year the fares were pre booked at EUR 0.01. It does what it says on the tin and as long as you are expected to fulfil your side of the bargain – i.e. strictly be self loading luggage, it was fine, safe, punctual. The cabin crew trying to sell raffle tickets could get on your nerves a bit.
Many of the modular students I have trained are Ryanair flight deck crew, and very happy for it. Yes, it is a EUR 30,000 ticket for the type rating (and not everybody get through it), but the good ones get command in their twenties. Compensation is six figures at command. Only in the air force might you get command of a multi engine heavy transport in your twenties, and usually only when there is a major war. Those who want to trade up go East after getting command, but many like the sleep at your base roster.
Recall that Hamble cadets from the 1970’s might have never made command, and their career was pot holed with furloughs and lay offs. Ironically the kids of working class demographics whose family have financed their ATPL and get command in Ryanair, then swap over to the flag carriers where the integrated kids (implication of a more affluent background) potentially are facing a repeat of being career first officers, as their new captain is five or ten years younger than them.
Focused and smart fATPL candidates are still voting Ryanair as the best first leg up in the business.
Peter wrote:
For all their bizzare practices, these airlines don’t seem to have problems attracting young men and women. The reason given tends to be that while the starting pay is poor, you do progress to higher grades pretty fast.
There is another and, in my opinion, more important reason. These airlines give a chance to pilots without jet experience. I’ve been trying to get into commercial aviation for several years now and big airlines just don’t take any inexperienced pilots. I talked with Swiss and they told me directly: “the current strategy is to only take experienced captains and ab-initio pilots and it will probably not change in the next 3-5 years, so don’t even hope”. I guess also the gain of training ab-initio pilots is not bad for these airlines (note that currently Switzerland will pay 60-100k for the training of a new pilot which the airline gets for the job of training – better than getting a cadet). So at some point the low pay at a low cost becomes the only way to make these 1000-1500 hours on jet required by everyone else.
Vladimir the main hurdle is 500 hours multi crew, ATR 42/72 rated first officers transfer to jets and the airline will sometimes pay the TR. If you are looking for a flag carrier job better to arrive with command hours and fast track to command.
As a turboprop TR is half the price of a 320/737 TR, going down the turboprop route is not a dead end and may save some money.
So at some point the low pay at a low cost becomes the only way to make these 1000-1500 hours on jet required by everyone else.
Interesting, and sounds reasonable. So Raynair is more like a beta test of pilots, a passenger financed beta test 
