Ryanair Cabin Crew Recruitment

TPMP

I filled out an application form for Ryanair Cabin Crew last night and today I have received an email from them inviting me to attend an interview in April.

Does anyone here work for Ryanair cabin crew, and if so can you give me any tips with what I should say/what will be asked in the interview?

Cheers

McNulty737

Don't do it, please. If you want to be cabin crew try a more staff friendly airline - Emirates are hiring 4000 cabin crew this year. Much better terms and conditions plus you get to see the world.

TPMP

McNulty737 wrote: »

Don't do it, please. If you want to be cabin crew try a more staff friendly airline - Emirates are hiring 4000 cabin crew this year. Much better terms and conditions plus you get to see the world.

The fact that I'd be based in Dubai doesn't really appeal to me though. At least with Ryanair there's a very high chance I'd be based in Ireland.

A320

TPMP wrote: »

The fact that I'd be based in Dubai doesn't really appeal to me though. At least with Ryanair there's a very high chance I'd be based in Ireland.

and then be told pack your bags your off to some other base abroad thats a hellhole,prestwick,Hahn etc

Talent

No other airline charges (up to €2500) for training. You will also be charged €25 a month for your uniform. You only get paid for the time you are flying and you will be required, under pain of dismissal, to work several unpaid hours a day. There is no limit in the contract on the days you will be required to serve on standby for just €35 a day at the airport, and unpaid at home (when you will have to report within an hour, in uniform, of getting a phone call). Although you will get a contract, it does not gurantee you any minimum earnings and, despite signing it, the company you work for (an agency and not Ryanair) doesn't have to give you any work. Your chances of being employed direct by ryanair are very slim. Many kids don't get any work for weeks over the winter - all unpaid.

You have a minimum 10% chance (some say 30%, others more) of getting sacked before you complete your first year. You can be sacked for not selling enough on the aircraft. You can also get the sack for being sick. As many kids leave in disgust because of bullying as are sacked. They don't give you your last month's commission if you get sacked - the company keeps it. They may also deduct €1300 New Joiner's Fee from your last wage-packet plus any money owed for uniform, training, etc. I met a French girl in tears at Dublin airport after she was unexpectedly summoned from Brussels to be sacked. She got a phone call the night before to come to Dublin via Italy (the only flights Ryanair could arrange). There was no warning. She was expecting a last pay-cheque of €1500, she got €120. And the day she wasted travelling to Dublin via Bergamo and back was, of course, unpaid. If you are sacked - don't sign anything - you are signing away your right to sue them for wrongful dismissal.

There is absolutely no guarantee that you will be based in Dublin - you can just as easily end up in Poland.

Don't waste your money on this dreadful company. They have the greatest turnover of cabin crew of any airline in Europe.

TPMP

Yeesh, I didnt think working for them was that bad. I may have to reconsider my options.

In fact, I should have just gone to the Limerick open day for Emirates today. Now, If I do indeed end up applying with them, it'll have to be in London as it doesnt appear that Emirates or Etihad have any more Irish open days.

Zyox

TPMP wrote: »

Yeesh, I didnt think working for them was that bad. I may have to reconsider my options.

In fact, I should have just gone to the Limerick open day for Emirates today. Now, If I do indeed end up applying with them, it'll have to be in London as it doesnt appear that Emirates or Etihad have any more Irish open days.

You'll still save yourself money.

Suits

TPMP wrote: »

I filled out an application form for Ryanair Cabin Crew last night and today I have received an email from them inviting me to attend an interview in April.

Does anyone here work for Ryanair cabin crew, and if so can you give me any tips with what I should say/what will be asked in the interview?

Cheers

Dont do it!! You have so much to live for!

Why anybody would willingly work for Ryanair I dont know really. Pilots only do it for the easy jet hours before getting the hell out. But in my opinion anyone who in full possesion of the facts applies for cabin crew needs their head examined!

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Agree entirely with what Talent wrote.

I see these poor girls and guys put up with so much abuse and stress and at the end of the day they earn peanuts.

STAY away from Ryanair with a barge pole. Dont know how the cabin-crew put up with it.

TPMP

I have decided not to attend the interview. I knew working for Ryanair was tough, but some of the stuff posted above is simply ridiculous and is something which I wouldn't put up with.

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I just wish all prospective Ryanair cabin crew knew what they were getting in to before they signed the contract.

MOL would have a tough time staffing flights in that case.

Good luck TPMP.

McNulty737

That's great to hear TPMP, it breaks my heart sometimes to see how cabin crew are treated in Ryanair.

Give Emirates a shot in London, they provide free housing, free transport to and from work every day, obviously free uniform etc., They also put you up in nice hotels around the world and give you local currency to cover meals and so on. Plus Dubai is tax free so everything you earn goes straight into your pocket to save or spend, whichever way you see fit. Very hard work and tough hours sometimes, but an interesting, decently paid job. Ryanair cabin crew = hell on earth.

Fully Established

ryanairdontcarecrew.blogspot.com : Hopefully this prevents any people with aspirations of been cabin crew to steer clear of this lot.Interesting reading indeed how they really treat staff members, hopefully it gets more publicity behind it and these practices stopped.

missmoo

Don't believe everything you read on that website, it's a p!seed off father raging cos his daughter screwed up in work. Why not ask ryanair employees about the job? Yes, there's bad parts, nothing like described above, don't believe all the hype you hear

Suits

missmoo wrote: »

Don't believe everything you read on that website, it's a p!seed off father raging cos his daughter screwed up in work. Why not ask ryanair employees about the job? Yes, there's bad parts, nothing like described above, don't believe all the hype you hear

It's an awful job. I've never met a Ryanair cabin crew member who was happy with their job.

Talent

Months later.. just noticed missmoos contribution and just in case people think that my contribution is from a "pissed off father" it's not. I don't have any kids working for Ryanair, or any other airline for that matter.

drdeadlift

It would at least be an interesting experience if only for a short time to work for them.
I find the blog funny as shiit!
How does the fr cabin crew monthly salary compare to other airlines?

Talent

The Ryanair Cabin Crew is paid block to block at about €16 an hour. In other words, if the plane is moving they get paid. Sounds reasonable but when the plane is stopped they are still required to work (heard from one girl who told me she worked 6 hours unpaid one day). Also don't get paid if the aircraft is grounded due to tech, fog, other weather and industrial action. No pay either if the aircraft is repositioning without passengers. Neither do they get expenses and can be sacked for taking food from the galley. You can earn more flipping burgers at MacDonalds.

Do the maths. You can only legally fly 900 hours annually so you'll be lucky to earn €15000 a year. In your first year you have to pay the cost of training and accomodation (easily €3000 if not more) plus €25 monthly for your uniform. As said earlier, there are no expenses, and, unlike other airlines you don't get fed on the job. One senior cabin crew at Ryanair (one of the lucky ones with a staff job - most new recruits work for an agency to keep them off Ryanair's books) told me he noticed that most newbies there cannot afford to eat properly and eat pot noodles a lot. Most are stationed far from hoem and have to pay for accomodation as well.

The contract is the most worthless piece of sh*t I have ever read because there is nothing in it for the employee and, I suspect, most judges would reject it as unreasonable. Problem is when you are fired (AS HUNDREDS HAVE BEEN) you are asked to sign a piece of paper saying you accept what is happening (you are told beforehand you won't get final pay unless you sign - highly questionable behaviour by Ryanair's contractors).

Many are, despite their "contract" laid off for weeks during the off-season and cannot work for another airline. There are also legal limits on the hours per week they can work so they will find it hard to make up that magic 900 hours.

They are also given targets for selling food drink and junk on the aircraft and can be sacked if they don't meet them. They are also required to meet targets for selling those stupid calendars for charity but don't get commission for them. And, at €10 a pop it reduces the spend otherwise on the aircraft and leaves them vulnerable to dismissal for failing to meet sales targets. Sadly some of these kids need the charity instead.

Getting ill is another reason for dismissal. Did I say there's no sick pay? I could go on and on and on and the story gets worse and worse.

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Don't forget about working airport standby's Talent.

You get the pleasure of sitting around the crewroom for 8 hours.
This wouldn't be too bad if you could do your own thing, ie. sleep, read books, watch movies on your laptop but no. You have to actually work while on standby, photocopying, delivering money bags to incoming aircraft, helping at the boarding gate etc.

And for all this I think its €20 you get. €20 for 8 hours work! Slave labour!!:eek:

Talent

Home standby is worse. You don 't get paid anything but have to be sitting in your uniform, looking presentable waiting for the phone to ring all day and have to get your sorry ass to the crewroom within an hour of the call or risk the sack. Some kids get a taxi for fear they'll be late. No expenses so it comes out of their own pocket.

I also hear that you lose the airport standby pay if you get a flying gig. Is that true?

cabincrewifly

In ORK base, we've the "Cork pay agreement" which means you get paid per sector so it's €16 for flights under 1.45 hrs and it's €27 for anything over. This is in place until march 2013. So for double London eg LGW STN you'd get €64 + applicable commission. 4 hours 20 flight time then ad on your report time of one hour plus boarding then turnaround of 25 mins in LGW STN etc.

Talent

A question: is 1.45 hrs one hour and 45 mins, or is it one hour 27 mins?

And if I read you correctly the double London shift earns you only €14.77 per block hour and you work perhaps an additional 2 hours 30 mins for nothing? That equates to less than €9.50 an hour, according to my back of envelope calculations. Barely more than minimum wage (€8.65 per hour) I would think!

It's important to bear in mind that for agency crew there is no salary, just flight pay, unlike other airlines where you get both.

And in Ryanair during your first year you can factor in a cost of €3 an hour coming out of your income to repay training, uniform and other costs. That assumes you get 900 hours flying time a year, the cost is even more if you get less.

drdeadlift

Talent wrote: »

The Ryanair Cabin Crew is paid block to block at about €16 an hour. In other words, if the plane is moving they get paid. Sounds reasonable but when the plane is stopped they are still required to work (heard from one girl who told me she worked 6 hours unpaid one day). Also don't get paid if the aircraft is grounded due to tech, fog, other weather and industrial action. No pay either if the aircraft is repositioning without passengers. Neither do they get expenses and can be sacked for taking food from the galley. You can earn more flipping burgers at MacDonalds.

Do the maths. You can only legally fly 900 hours annually so you'll be lucky to earn €15000 a year. In your first year you have to pay the cost of training and accomodation (easily €3000 if not more) plus €25 monthly for your uniform. As said earlier, there are no expenses, and, unlike other airlines you don't get fed on the job. One senior cabin crew at Ryanair (one of the lucky ones with a staff job - most new recruits work for an agency to keep them off Ryanair's books) told me he noticed that most newbies there cannot afford to eat properly and eat pot noodles a lot. Most are stationed far from hoem and have to pay for accomodation as well.

The contract is the most worthless piece of sh*t I have ever read because there is nothing in it for the employee and, I suspect, most judges would reject it as unreasonable. Problem is when you are fired (AS HUNDREDS HAVE BEEN) you are asked to sign a piece of paper saying you accept what is happening (you are told beforehand you won't get final pay unless you sign - highly questionable behaviour by Ryanair's contractors).

Many are, despite their "contract" laid off for weeks during the off-season and cannot work for another airline. There are also legal limits on the hours per week they can work so they will find it hard to make up that magic 900 hours.

They are also given targets for selling food drink and junk on the aircraft and can be sacked if they don't meet them. They are also required to meet targets for selling those stupid calendars for charity but don't get commission for them. And, at €10 a pop it reduces the spend otherwise on the aircraft and leaves them vulnerable to dismissal for failing to meet sales targets. Sadly some of these kids need the charity instead.

Getting ill is another reason for dismissal. Did I say there's no sick pay? I could go on and on and on and the story gets worse and worse.

Do you know how much they earn from selling products on board?

No body has a gun to their head when signing,they agreed to the terms and conditions within the contract.

Talent

I believe they get 10% commission. I also believe that the last months' commission is retained by the company if they get fired.

Very illuminating of you to be able to say they know what they have signed up for. Truth is they don't. Pity they can't all be as wise as you.

Truth is they are misled by the advertising on the Ryanair web site and elsewhere. MAny come from Eastern Europe with stars in their eyes. They believe that a company regulated by the Irish Government, and quoted on the Irish Stock Exchange is an honourable employer and means what it says. They don't usually see the contract until after they have completed their training (for which they pay for themselves, either in cash or signing a mandate to take it out of their pay). A proper contract of employment would have benefits for both sides. The Ryanair Cabin Crew contract hardly fulfils this - it doesn't even guarantee a minimum income. ADvertising for ryanair positions doesn't spell out the fact that all that is on offer is a freelance, casual job working for an employment agency.

Truth is this company's employment policies have caused a lot of heartache and regret. Some theorise that the company subsidises itself by a constant turnover of people who effectively buy their jobs. I cannot really comment on that but I do know that turnover is much higher than in most airlines.

boreder

So they go in unskilled, with (presumably) no experience in the job, and you're surprised that they earn €15,000 a year? That sounds like a decent enough starting salary to me, for a young person with no experience.

Add to the fact they get cheap flights to go wherever they want during the year when off work, and it's even better.

Talent

Boredor,
Which bit of my earlier posts did you not understand?

Try to read it thouroughly before making under-informed comment.