Ryanair getting a bashing on C4 last night

[GT03ROB]

Anyone see Dispatches on C4 last night getting stuck into Ryanair?

Basic allegations are :
1) They under fuel the planes
2) Have league tables for fuel useage
3) Do not routinely preserve cockpit voice recordings follong incidents, including 3 on the same day were maydays were issued!
4) Threatened to sack all pilots who joned a union.

He certainly is a popular man is that O'Leary chap!

[boobles]

I saw it but isn't this how most airlines operate? We just don't hear about it too often.

[mu0n]

My mate who works for them thinks a lot of the stories are fabricated.

They do however seem to treat their staff pretty shockingly. I have no idea why anyone would want to work for a budget airline as a flight attendant - stty long hours, basic pay, ridiculous rules, quick turn arounds, annoying passengers (esp during summer to Ibiza etc).

[Torquey]

Some questions I had from watching it:
If you have fuel remaining in your plane surely its available for use in the next flight?

If flights are meant to land at Madrid but diverted to Gerona(?) surely more fuel will be required and risk running into the reserve?

If you apply for a job which provides a "pay as you fly" contract and you are not happy with it, surely you look for a job with another airline?

I dont understand why they made the program. There are a lot worse employers out there.

[uber]

Ryanair have published all the data on their website including letters from the production company.

In reality, does anyone actually believe Ryanair would take such a risk knowing that one crash of this kind would finish them as a business, wipe out a couple of hundred people and destroy a 200 million jet....

[matt3001]

uber said:

In reality, does anyone actually believe Ryanair would take such a risk knowing that one crash could destroy a 200 million jet....

This.

Think someone at C4 has been watching a bit to much Sky F1, next thing will be the pilots getting lift and coast messages over the radio.

[tim0409]

Torquey said:

Some questions I had from watching it:
If you have fuel remaining in your plane surely its available for use in the next flight?

The more fuel you carry (which isn't required for the sector), the heavier the plane, which means you will burn more fuel. Given the cost this is something airlines try and avoid.

[anonymous-user]

Ryanair are well known for these stories in the airline industry. My airline has many ex Ryanair pilots, many with similar tales to tell. Their terms and conditions of employment are absolutely rock bottom of the industry. People only work there until they can get a better job somewhere else.

[Mermaid]

el stovey said:

Ryanair are well known for these stories in the airline industry. My airline has many ex Ryanair pilots, many with similar tales to tell. Their terms and conditions of employment are absolutely rock bottom of the industry. People only work there until they can get a better job somewhere else.

Modern day Alan Sugar's Amstrad?

[iphonedyou]

mu0n said:

My mate who works for them thinks a lot of the stories are fabricated.

They do however seem to treat their staff pretty shockingly. I have no idea why anyone would want to work for a budget airline as a flight attendant - stty long hours, basic pay, ridiculous rules, quick turn arounds, annoying passengers (esp during summer to Ibiza etc).

Those pilots are taking a big risk - not to mention wasting their time for no reward - to fabricate stories, then.

But they're only the pilots, so we probably all know better than they do about their fuelling I suppose.

[acd80]

el stovey said:

Ryanair are well known for these stories in the airline industry. My airline has many ex Ryanair pilots, many with similar tales to tell. Their terms and conditions of employment are absolutely rock bottom of the industry. People only work there until they can get a better job somewhere else.

I agree. I've got a mate from school who I believed flew for them until he had enough hours to go elsewhere but I haven't seen him in a fair few years and he's not on facebook so I can't verify that. However, my cousin did work for them as a flight attendant and she didn't last long due to the dire pay and conditions.

Ryanair has got an excellent safety record and it doesn't make economic sense to burn more fuel than is necessary so I don't see what the fuss is all about and it's not as if a documentary has ever been edited to suit a particular agenda, has it?

Saying that, whilst I can't stand the man personally even though he's a Westmeath man like myself and think he's an obnoxious , he is a phenomenally astute business man and his approach to running an airline has driven down the cost of flying. I remember when it used to cost the best part of £200 to fly from Ireland to the UK on an economy flight. I've paid £4 for two return flight for me and the wife from Bristol to Dublin including all taxes and charges. I paid 30p less than that for a mediocre pint of San Miguel in Swansea on Sunday!

You know what you're getting when you fly with Ryanair-treat it as an extended bus journey or a crappy commute on a train and you won't have any unexpected surprises.

[audidoody]

No-one (well almost no-one) minds paying a fair and reasonable price. If they had a simple booking system with an all-in price (OK -plus a supplement to check a bag) 95 per cent of the complaints would disappear.

I booked a flight to Berlin today on the web site and the amount of crap they tried to add on' was ridiculous (want insurance? car? new suitcase? choose your seat? want a text message? And that was before I got to the bit where I had to pay extra to pay.

Edited by audidoody on Tuesday 13th August 21:05

[pushthebutton]

But you still booked it and that's all they care about. I'm positive that they couldn't give a sh!t about the complaints as long as people still hit the 'buy' button. Price is the only factor it seems and you did hit that button

Edited by pushthebutton on Wednesday 14th August 15:31

[mu0n]

iphonedyou said:

mu0n said:

My mate who works for them thinks a lot of the stories are fabricated.

They do however seem to treat their staff pretty shockingly. I have no idea why anyone would want to work for a budget airline as a flight attendant - stty long hours, basic pay, ridiculous rules, quick turn arounds, annoying passengers (esp during summer to Ibiza etc).

Those pilots are taking a big risk - not to mention wasting their time for no reward - to fabricate stories, then.

But they're only the pilots, so we probably all know better than they do about their fuelling I suppose.

I'd trust my mate whose a cabin crew supervisor and has many pilot friends within Ryanair. Who knows if C4 paid the pilots or they are simply just disgruntled employees not happy with pay or whatever? I don't know their motives, I didn't even watch the programme.

I'm not saying Ryanair are a good company to work for (my mate doesn't have too many issues but he's a supervisor and he's a grafter). My cousin's gf use to work for Ryanair and got made redundant/fired (can't remember which technically, probably fired) - it's mainly the newer cabin crew that suffer - if you can make it through a certain period then you're probably okay but they like quick turn arounds to get more staff to pay for training to join their team. It's a big money spinner.

[bad company]

Apparently DanDare Ryanair are to sue Channel 4 - https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ryanair+to+sue+c...

Edited by bad company on Wednesday 14th August 10:10

[iphonedyou]

mu0n said:

I'd trust my mate whose a cabin crew supervisor and has many pilot friends within Ryanair. Who knows if C4 paid the pilots or they are simply just disgruntled employees not happy with pay or whatever? I don't know their motives, I didn't even watch the programme.

I'm not saying Ryanair are a good company to work for (my mate doesn't have too many issues but he's a supervisor and he's a grafter). My cousin's gf use to work for Ryanair and got made redundant/fired (can't remember which technically, probably fired) - it's mainly the newer cabin crew that suffer - if you can make it through a certain period then you're probably okay but they like quick turn arounds to get more staff to pay for training to join their team. It's a big money spinner.

With the greatest of respect, I'm not sure what role, if any, the cabin crew supervisor plays with fuelling - though I'd hope it isn't a big one!

I don't know the motives of the pilots, either - but I'd suggest it's more likely they're concerned about safety than getting slipped a few quid by an investigative journalism TV programme, or hoping to increase their pay by getting fired.

I was going to say we never had any problems with them when I worked in Air Traffic, but then we didn't deal with them. Probably why

[fatboy b]

Ryanair aren't all bad. For a start, they attract a high percentage of people I wouldn't like to be on a plane with. So it makes other airlines, that I fly with, much more enjoyable.

[bad company]

I just read that Ryanair want to increase the price of hold baggage to the point where nobody takes any. I think it's the same with Easyjet which is a shame.

Mrs BC and I have booked a cruise which starts in the USA and finishes in Barcelona. The first problem was one way flights to the USA which cost more than return tickets. We got round this by using frequent flier points.

The second problem is getting home from Barcelona. Easyjet look cheap until we add the cost of 3 hold bags @ 20 - 23 k each. The price then rockets to the point where it is cheaper to use British Airways.

[onesickpuppy]

bad company said:

I just read that Ryanair want to increase the price of hold baggage to the point where nobody takes any. I think it's the same with Easyjet which is a shame.

Mrs BC and I have booked a cruise which starts in the USA and finishes in Barcelona. The first problem was one way flights to the USA which cost more than return tickets. We got round this by using frequent flier points.

The second problem is getting home from Barcelona. Easyjet look cheap until we add the cost of 3 hold bags @ 20 - 23 k each. The price then rockets to the point where it is cheaper to use British Airways.

Just book returns and don't use the return. Or I missing something?

[LuS1fer]

I've only used Ryan Air once but find them a fly-by-night organisation. Fly-by-day too.