Ryanair Strike implications re Cancellations NO INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS POSTS

California Dreamer

appledrop wrote: »

Their working conditions are shocking especially for pilots. Think it was channel 4 that did a documentary on it a few years ago. Don't know why anyone is surprised. They have always treated their customers with distain. Only ever flown with them once never again.

A very slanted one say of the airline sensationalized to make it look good for tv.

Problems and issues there are, but just as much as any short haul airline.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Woodville56

jimbojetdriver wrote: »

Delighted this is finally happening. Sorry to all those affected but this has been a long time coming. 

I was a pilot with Ryanair for 5 years, I had no choice but to resign after I did my command upgrade. It's hard to believe but I was actually going to be getting a lower take home pay as a captain in my new eastern European base then I was as a "contractor" first officer at my home base. Lasted less then a month before I told them to shove it and left for somewhere far better.

The job market has changed, there is now a massive demand for experienced pilots. When I left I had three different offers lined up. O' Leary was right, he has thousands of pilots trying to get into Ryanair, only problem is that they are all 200 hour guys fresh out of flight school having flown nothing more then a light twin. All need months of training just to get to line standard, then years more experience before even being considered for command.

This breaking news is just what has been released to the public, in reality things are far worse. I'm on holidays next month, researching weekend breaks away,  but would never have risked a booking with Ryanair considering what I have been told by friends still there. Some of the whatsapp stories going around the last few months are shocking. 

If the recent bunch of resignations in Dublin base is anything to go by, even loyal guys based at home bases have now had enough of the treatment and are leaving for commuting jobs. 

The only way out of this is a change of management. Not possible to continue with a CEO that openly hates pilots and completely refuses to engage with them. There are thousands of experienced guys that left for the sandpit. A lot may be tempted to return but won't ever consider it as long as he is in charge, myself included.

All a bit disconcerting for those of us who are nervous fliers - the loss of experienced pilots bound to increase flight safety risk factor ?

California Dreamer

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Not to the point that it's blown up in Ryanair's face but Aer Lingus are 25-30 short for their short haul this summer. Every pilot is flying their maximum hours and it's not just confined to Europe. You just have to know where to look and the worldwide shortage of pilots.

JCX BXC

California Dreamer wrote: »

Not to the point that it's blown up in Ryanair's face but Aer Lingus are 25-30 short for their short haul this summer. Every pilot is flying their maximum hours and it's not just confined to Europe. You just have to know where to look and the worldwide shortage of pilots.

Have Aer Lingus had to cancel 2% of their flights due to these shortages?

California Dreamer

Woodville56 wrote: »

All a bit disconcerting for those of us who are nervous fliers - the loss of experienced pilots bound to increase flight safety risk factor ?

In fairness I don't think a "nervous flyer" should be dipping their head into an aviation forum as you are likely to become even more paranoid than you already are.

Bob24

California Dreamer wrote: »

Not to the point that it's blown up in Ryanair's face but Aer Lingus are 25-30 short for their short haul this summer. Every pilot is flying their maximum hours and it's not just confined to Europe. You just have to know where to look and the worldwide shortage of pilots.

Aer Lingus might be stretched in term of pilots. But clearly Ryanair is then more then stretched if the have to cancel 50+ flights per day. If what you say is correct it must be annoying for Aer Lingus pilots, but it is clearly not the same severity at all if it doesn't cause cancellations and doesn't attest customers.

California Dreamer

JCX BXC wrote: »

Have Aer Lingus had to cancel 2% of their flights due to these shortages?

No but it has been balls to the wall for the summer roster. Plus 2% of an 50 fleet airline is not huge.

California Dreamer

Bob24 wrote: »

Aer Lingus might be stretched in term of pilots. But clearly Ryanair is then more then stretched if the have to cancel 50+ flights per day. If what you say is correct it must be annoying for Aer Lingus pilots, but it is clearly not the same severity at all if it doesn't cause cancellations and doesn't attest customers.

Oh not at all. It's just worth pointing out that there is indeed a worldwide shortage of pilots and an animal the size of Ryanair allowed this to happen such is the contempt held at the pilots by management.

CelticRambler

Just to put things in context, remember that Air Berline cancelled 100 flights this week when an “unusually high number” of pilots called in sick

Maybe it's us - the flying public - who are really to blame, thinking that any airline can fly profitably with fares of less than 20€ ... says he, having just this minute received an e-mail from Ryanair telling me I can "beat the blues from 19€99" :pac:

Goat the dote

jimbojetdriver wrote: »

It's hard to say much on here as Ryanair have gone after people before for posting not so nice comments on other websites. I will say that the training I received there was second to none, excellent!  However I left a few years ago now so that may have changed with the amount of experience that has been lost.

There is rumor of a rather serious safety breach that happened but news of it never seemed to reach the surface. If it did happen it may have been related to the problems they are currently facing. I'll post the screenshot, just remember I'm in no way saying this happened for sure......

I'm confused (new to this forum) what's an LTC? Or why should this guy (in this possibly hypothetical situation) not have been flying with a regular captain

Powerhouse

California Dreamer wrote: »

No but it has been balls to the wall for the summer roster. Plus 2% of an 50 fleet airline is not huge.

I really don't get the relevance of a 2% figure being "not huge" because it shouldn't be happening at all. It's huge enough to be a front page news story because currently people are finding out only the day before they fly. By any measure it is an appalling situation for an airline with the potential to do huge damage to them. Who would risk booking anything with them for the foreseeable future?

newspower

Damn. Have a fiight in four weeks with Ryanair to Pisa. Ah sure look dont usually pack until few hours before anyway Next flight will pay the extra to go with another airline for peace of mind.

Woodville56

California Dreamer wrote: »

Woodville56 wrote: »

All a bit disconcerting for those of us who are nervous fliers - the loss of experienced pilots bound to increase flight safety risk factor ?

In fairness I don't think a "nervous flyer" should be dipping their head into an aviation forum as you are likely to become even more paranoid than you already are.

Not paranoid just concerned that cutting corners ultimately increases risk. I've flown regularly with RyanAir and thankfully had no adverse issues, doesn't mean one shouldn't be concerned if experience is being sacrificed for expediency and profits.. As for "dipping my head into an aviation forum" , I thought it was about the RyanAir flight cancellation issue and not aviation per se ? But from the postings here it there's more to it than just bad scheduling and poor roster management.

California Dreamer

Powerhouse wrote: »

I really don't get the relevance of a 2% figure being "not huge" because it shouldn't be happening at all. It's huge enough to be a front page news story because currently people are finding out only the day before they fly. By any measure it is an appalling situation for an airline with the potential to do huge damage to them. Who would risk booking anything with them for the foreseeable future?

In that instance I was referring to Aer Lingus, a 50 fleet airline. 2% of their flights is a lot less than 2% of Ryanair's 300 fleet 1800 daily flights. As for who would risk booking anything? Don't you know MOL will do a flash sale across the network when this is settled out and once again people will flock to the airline for the cheap flights.

Jobs OXO

Has O'Leary made any comment on this ?

JCX BXC

CelticRambler wrote: »

Just to put things in context, remember that Air Berline cancelled 100 flights this week when an “unusually high number” of pilots called in sick

Maybe it's us - the flying public - who are really to blame, thinking that any airline can fly profitably with fares of less than 20€ ... says he, having just this minute received an e-mail from Ryanair telling me I can "beat the blues from 19€99" :pac:

How is it our fault? These airlines still make massive profits, so clearly fly profitably. You cannot blame consumers for airlines having poor conditions, really just kinda is a "get over it" sort of point.

California Dreamer

Woodville56 wrote: »

But from the postings here it there's more to it than just bad scheduling and poor roster management.

Without the benefit of actual proof the anonymous postings/opinions/beliefs etc are dished out here by flying enthusiasts, anoraks, school kids, Walter Mitty types and the odd actual expert. Myself included!! 😝😝😝

Spanish Eyes

I don't know much about scheduling as you can see! But why not cut down on UK regional airport runs for a little while apart from London.

There are so many places over there serviced now, surely once a day will do or four times a week or whatever. I get that people visit and do a bit of business maybe, and/or use certain airports outside London as hubs to elsewhere, but Birmingham for example has connections from New Street train station to anywhere in UK, and the airport has international connections too. Manchester the same. Just as an example.

But maybe RYR are committed to these regional airports on a contract basis.

Sorry for my ignorance, I am sure someone will point out to me how incorrect I am!

Woodville56

Jobs OXO wrote: »

Has O'Leary made any comment on this ?

Not likely , he'll leave it to his hapless minions to face the music from irate customers. O'Leary doesn't care much about the traveling public or the inconvenience his airline cause - long as we will continue to buy his cheap flights regardless , why should he ?

First Up

newspower wrote:

Damn. Have a fiight in four weeks with Ryanair to Pisa. Ah sure look dont usually pack until few hours before anyway Next flight will pay the extra to go with another airline for peace of mind.

I have week in Spain with them in early October. Problem would be if the return leg was cancelled as I have commitments the next day. Don't fancy scrambling around looking for an alternative flight at a couple of days' notice.

Woodville56

California Dreamer wrote: »

Woodville56 wrote: »

But from the postings here it there's more to it than just bad scheduling and poor roster management.

Without the benefit of actual proof the anonymous postings/opinions/beliefs etc are dished out here by flying enthusiasts, anoraks, school kids, Walter Mitty types and the odd actual expert. Myself included!! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜

Ur not Michael O'Leary by any chance - you seem to be his only defender here , but then again what would we know- we're not aviation experts - just the schmucks who keep lining O'Leary's pockets and keep getting his style of crappy customer service in return

California Dreamer

Woodville56 wrote: »

Ur not Michael O'Leary by any chance -

How dare you!?!?! 😝😝😝😝😝😝

Jawgap

I'd like to thank Ryanair for wrecking our holiday......

......took the folks away for a break and since this has been announced they've been worrying about getting back home if we get cancelled.

I'm normally a fan of the company (I remember how much it used to cost to get to/from the UK) but this is pretty sh1tty. I rather pay the extra with Air Flingus if it means flights won't arbitrarily be cancelled.

On the plus side, once the bleeding from this PR shot-in-the-foot subsides they may run some pretty cheap fares to regain the inevitable loss of market share - it might be worth taking a punt for some casual, non-critical travelling

Loueln

Do ryanair have the ability to process large numbers of refunds and compensation claims? 6,000 people daily getting full refunds, and with the short notice cancellations, requesting the full compo as outlined by the EU261? directive

trellheim

anyone do any analysis of the cancellations ( by aircraft/operating base/destination/days of operation ? )

jimbojetdriver

Goat the dote wrote: »

jimbojetdriver wrote: »

It's hard to say much on here as Ryanair have gone after people before for posting not so nice comments on other websites. I will say that the training I received there was second to none, excellent!  However I left a few years ago now so that may have changed with the amount of experience that has been lost.

There is rumor of a rather serious safety breach that happened but news of it never seemed to reach the surface. If it did happen it may have been related to the problems they are currently facing. I'll post the screenshot, just remember I'm in no way saying this happened for sure......

I'm confused (new to this forum) what's an LTC? Or why should this guy (in this possibly hypothetical situation) not have been flying with a regular captain

LTC means Line Training Captain, this guy was only new, still under initial training, hadn't been signed off/qualified yet so he wasn't legal to fly unless he was with a Line Training Captain. He should have been removed from the flight and a qualified First Officer called in to replace him. Major cock up. 
Perhaps when things were hectic/desperate there was an oversight and crew control just put him on with a normal line captain... 
Apparently they have been asking cabin crew to come in and help crew control when they have hit there monthly flight time limitation. Doubt they are getting trained for that so it's easy to see how a mistake like this might have happened...

exaisle

Smart flies Aer Lingus (and doesn't have a two day camel hike to the terminal either) ???

I used to use Ryanair whenever travelling through Europe but not any more. The constant upselling p1sses me off and ruins any chance of a snooze during a flight and the cabin crew have NO idea how to make announcements. I think they think it's a race whereas the way to do it is slowly and deliberately. To add insult to injury, the PA systems on Airbus are far better and much more audible than those on Boeing.

My guess is that the cancelled flights have nothing to do with whatever Ryanair said.....

HardyBuckFan

My Story: Booked flights months ago to Biarittz for Thursday 21st. Receive an email last night saying flight is cancelled. Immediately rebook flight (also with Ryanair) to Biarittz for same day. Bit of a nightmare as there's a 3 hour stopover in Brussells Charleoi but not the end of the world. Luckily as I booked within half an hour of receiving notice of cancellation, flight price to Biarittz via Charleoi was even a bit cheaper than direct flight I booked originally. So not out of pocket for the price of the flight, just majorly inconvenienced! From a direct flight to Biarittz at 10am, now a flight to Charleoi at 06.40, a 3.5 hour layover before moving on to Biarittz
However when I checked this morning same flights to Biarittz via Charleoi had increased by €207, how convenient!!!
Now I just need to pray that none of my new flights are cancelled or my return flight from Biarittz.
Also, am trying to complete my compensation claim as flight was cancelled with less than 1 weeks notice but online form is saying "The flight information you entered is incorrect" even though it is the correct flight number!
In fairness I was always "pro Ryanair" before this but this changes things

__..__

Jawgap wrote: »

I'd like to thank Ryanair for wrecking our holiday......

......took the folks away for a break and since this has been announced they've been worrying about getting back home if we get cancelled.

I'm normally a fan of the company (I remember how much it used to cost to get to/from the UK) but this is pretty sh1tty. I rather pay the extra with Air Flingus if it means flights won't arbitrarily be cancelled.

On the plus side, once the bleeding from this PR shot-in-the-foot subsides they may run some pretty cheap fares to regain the inevitable loss of market share - it might be worth taking a punt for some casual, non-critical travelling

Oh definitely dont book any flights until very close to the time. I bet new bookings will be thin on the ground for the next year at least.