Ryanair receive yet another apology

suerte

so that's six newspapers that Ryanair has received apologies from in relation to their safety record...

www.theguardian.com

that just leaves Channel 4 Dispatches who i'm sure will eventually have to apologise too.

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Or not.

They may have the balls to stand by their journalists' investigation and fight Ryanair in court.

Mister R

For an airline to even have these whistleblowers is suspicious to say the least. Look at Alaska Airlines before Flight 261, a whistleblower gets suspended and low and behold a plane drops out of the sky a while after.

Regarding Dispatches they couldn't sue the first time Dispatches did an expose of their work practices a few years back with the undercover flight attendant although they alleged it was untrue but since they didn't sue we can assume that was all factual too. These aren't the odd rogue pilot, its quite a few at this stage.

Nonoperational

it doesn't take away from the fact that the only thing that dispatches program reported was that Ryanair flies with the amount of fuel required by law, and challenges it's pilots to be as efficient as possible with their fuel. I'd imagine Ryanair's fuel policy is no different to most other airlines.

Mister R

The disposal of the CVRs, another issue. The zero-hour contracts are a general labour rights issue rather than a Ryanair one but apart from maybe students and other part-time workers nobody should be on zero-hour contracts.

The turnarounds have popped up as an issue in this doc as it did in the previous documentary about cabin crew where they were pushed to the brink.

I also doubt its only Ryanair, if you scratch the surface on the other low-cost airlines I'd imagine the culture is similar.

beer enigma

I'm a weekly commuter between Cork and London. Personally I tend not to travel Ryanair, but only because Stansted and Gatwick are a pain to get to for me, I stay close enough to Heathrow, so I deduct 'cost to airport' from the overall flight cost, but that's the only reason I don't.

So long as they stay within the laws, I have no issues with them

Nonoperational

To be honest with the recent improvements, Ryanair have given themselves a lot more to offer. I've probably been on 100 or so Ryanair flights in the past 5 years and only a handful were delayed. The rest were exactly what I expected.

Stovepipe

You have to understand that the entire industry regards "within 15minutes" of departure as pretty much on time. They strive to get it down to +5 minutes at worst, so that the flight crew can make the effort to try and gain it back. There are so many variables, such as ATC or weather delays or even things like repair works on taxiways or even changes of usable runway, that it's often impossible to be exactly on time, which is why they try for an almost-on-time approach. Being a few minutes late won't annoy anyone, but being twenty minutes late will and the way flight schedules and the ATC system is constructed in Europe, means that delays generated in the morning can still exist by evening. All airlines put a huge effort into prevention of delays but quite simply, matters are often out of their hands.
regards
Stovepipe

homerjay2005

Nonoperational wrote: »

To be honest with the recent improvements, Ryanair have given themselves a lot more to offer. I've probably been on 100 or so Ryanair flights in the past 5 years and only a handful were delayed. The rest were exactly what I expected.

ive been on about 300-320 flights in this time and id say maximum 10 have been delayed and ive had one cancellation (snow in Dublin so airport was closed, flew to Shannon instead a few hours later). rarely have i paid over €100 for a return trip, with the average cost being around €60. i even booked a flight one night, to eastern europe, for the following morning for €85 for a family funeral...you cant beat that.

no matter what you say about Ryanair, they are cheap and efficient. as to how so many people whinge about them, i just dont know, they are as good as it gets - the only thing i can think of is good old fashioned Irish begrudgary and jealously towards how successful o Leary is.

Mister R

homerjay2005 wrote: »

no matter what you say about Ryanair, they are cheap and efficient. as to how so many people whinge about them, i just dont know, they are as good as it gets - the only thing i can think of is good old fashioned Irish begrudgary and jealously towards how successful o Leary is.

Thats also always the explanation people give any time big business is criticised in Ireland for operating in a not so ethical manner. I never had an issue with Ryanair till both the dispatches documentary on the cabin crew and the stories of some former cabin crew and even office staff told me about working conditions.

So if you are all happy promoting an airline that has zero respect for their workers thats fine, I'm not.

homerjay2005

Mister R wrote: »

So if you are all happy promoting an airline that has zero respect for their workers thats fine, I'm not.

we keep hearing about how poorly Ryanair treats its workers, yet there never seems to be details given or proven on here.

any actual factual accounts from people who work for them?

another question, if they are so unhappy, why dont they look to work elsewhere and leave the company??

Stovepipe

read your PMs. I sent you a genuine example........in the airline I work for, we have several ex-Ryanair engineers who voted with their feet.

regards
Stovepipe

mackjark

Homerjay, I don't work for Ryanair but I know plenty who do and their tales are consistent. Apart from anything else many are not even employed by Ryanair directly but are contractors so have few of the rights employees enjoy. I could tell you stories and I'm sure Stovepipe knows plenty too but we all know what happens to people who mention Ryanair negatively.
In relation to the Dispatches program well Ryanair counters that with it's long safety record. Fair enough. But as they say in the investment business: Past performance is not a guarantee of future success. Without a strong and open safety culture there's a risk of avoidable accidents.

Patrickheg

Stovepipe wrote: »

read your PMs. I sent you a genuine example........in the airline I work for, we have several ex-Ryanair engineers who voted with their feet.

regards
Stovepipe

Why are you sending PMs which sound like they could be slanderous as the information is second hand to random strangers on the Internet? Could get you in a lot of trouble.....

Regards
Patrick Snr

rugbyman

Stovepipe,
I am an occasional visitor to this forum and a regular flier. From memory your contributions are knowledgeable. Simple question for you, though you may need time to ask someone, are the enginers who left Ryanair for your company paid more for their work than before. I fyou can answer this, i would also appreciate some info like, no, but there is more overtime,or better shift hours etc. there are often various reasons to change jobs.
second question, are there often vacancies in your company?

Regards Rugbyman

Stovepipe

@patricksnr, Homerjay wanted a genuine example so I sent him one. It's not slanderous in the slightest, but it is private.
@rugbyman, quite often people come to us from FR and other companies because they don't want to continue as contractors or they want to stay working in Ireland or they want to work on our type of aircraft. We tend to recruit to fill vacancies as they arise, ie, to cover retirements or replace people who move elsewhere. Our engineering age profile was quite high but we have taken on apprentices and experienced people to deal with this. Our shift system is probably the same or similar to what is used in most airlines.
regards
Stovepipe

Mister R

homerjay2005 wrote: »

we keep hearing about how poorly Ryanair treats its workers, yet there never seems to be details given or proven on here.

any actual factual accounts from people who work for them?

another question, if they are so unhappy, why dont they look to work elsewhere and leave the company??

Ever attended an open day for Etihad or Emirates it's FULL of Ryanair cabin crew hoping to move to the sandpit.