I’ve never liked Micheal O’Leary & now I have another reason not give him my money!

Never flown with them and after seeing that
and I fly regally to Alicante I don’t think I’l ever will

Summary please (no tv)

I will never fly Ryanair.

I grew up around aviation. Safety was always number one. If the captain said no go, it was no go.

Ryanair? Captain says no go, Ryanair says, “We’ll find someone who will go. Now, you go.”

Avoid.

you think it’s only Ryanair that fly around on fumes

Spill the beans Kona..

Many airlines run on fumes and call it in. Most of them from Asia, sadly. ‘Tis true.

Ryanair are scum. I stand by that.

The organisation I work for stopped all employees flying on Ryanair flights for business because of the various safety concerns, including the lack fuel. If they miss their landing a slot more often than not they do not have sufficient fuel to get to an alternative

Miss their landing spot and tell ATC that they’re running on fumes – they’ll get a free ride straight in on whatever runway they choose. Seems like it could make for shrewd dealings.

A couple of years ago a BA plane called an emergency due to low fuel at Heathrow, there was also a Virgin plane at Stansted that also called an emergency.

I watched that too, then I went on Ryanair’s website where they’ve rubbished the programme and printed a load of letters between themselves and Dispatches.

I’ve flown Ryanair many times, never had any problems. Flights always on time, no issues. Years ago I got a return flight to Girona for £8.02 all in. Everything. Flights were 1p, no taxes or charges and back then the booking fee was £4 per sector. Carry on baggage only and I didn’t buy any of their coffee either!

Prices have gone up now, you have to pay £7 for web check in (how does that work then?!) and card charges have gone up too. I’d still fly with them though.

Legal requirement is to take off with trip fuel, fuel for an alternate airport, min contingency (5 mins or 5% trip fuel, whichever higher), and 30 minutes final reserve.

It’s a bit more complicated than that (you can, for example, go without fuel for an alternate if landing is assured at your destination. It generally isn’t, so doesn’t happen often, if ever) but that’s the précis.

Every airline in the UK (and Europe) is operating to this principle. EasyJet certainly did when I flew for them, and if you wanted to take extra fuel you had to annotate the reason on the flight plan. Having said that, if you filled it up for legitimate reasons (weather etc) questions were never asked. I fly for another European operator now and we take minimum fuel most of the time.

Much that I dislike Ryanair, I doubt it’s different there unless they’re being pressured into taking min fuel when there’s good reason to take more. What is concerning is the attitude taken by the company towards unionisation of the workforce and the threat of dismissal of anyone who raises a safety concern.

If you’re really worried about aviation safety, you’d be far better off objecting to the changes to flight time limitations, which allow for a 14 hour shift following 4 hours sleep.

Miss their landing spot and tell ATC that they’re running on fumes – they’ll get a free ride straight in on whatever runway they choose.

That will work up until they arrive somewhere with a full-on emergency just going off (burning plane on the runway à la Manchester or similar). Then the excrement will really hit the air-conditioning. Relying on others for your own safety will eventually bite you as the odds shorten with each success.

Lots of airlines make decisions based on cost, if anyone thinks Ryanair are any worse they are delusional.

Keep cutting corners to demand permission to land first … sooner or later one will drop out from the sky but lesson will never be learned.

Life is cheap but let’s hope those making the decision or their love ones will be amongst those passengers when it crashes … feeeellll the painnnn …

Watching now on ch4 +1 scary!

Have a read of this:
http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-releases-channel-4-dispatches-letters

CaptainFlashheart – Member
Many airlines run on fumes and call it in. Most of them from Asia, sadly. ‘Tis true.
Ryanair are scum. I stand by that.

I was in a Malaysia airlines flight from KL in the late nineties which was held for an hour above gatwick. I remember a sharp turn which made me pucker up and a quite sudden landing. Some years later the same flight appeared on TV as evidence the airline was doing this and I believe they were fined, and the rules were changed as mentioned above becuase if this IIRC. Apparently according to the program my plane was practically empty when it landed!

crazy-legs – Member

Have a read of this:
http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-releases-channel-4-dispatches-letters

Yawn! Typical corporate zombie response is to deny everything … to confuse information.

If they continue with their ways it will crash no doubt about that because the possibility is higher with higher number of planes they have and hopefully someone from his hometown, you know those trouble souls, will string him or his love ones up when that happens.

What is concerning is the attitude taken by the company towards unionisation of the workforce and the threat of dismissal of anyone who raises a safety concern.

This.

@flaperon.
As you clearly are fully qualified to answer my next question please do.
At the weekend we met some people at the races blah blah, anyhow this chap was a flight simulator training officer, or something along those lines. He appeared to know his shizzle, after chatting for a bit he mentioned a list of airlines he wouldn’t fly with and had also banned his wife from flying with. This was due to the “lesser” training the pilots receive. Fact or fiction?

Yawn! Typical corporate zombie response is to deny everything … to confuse information.

Just saying – two sides to every story…

Concorde had a famous fuel emergency when they discovered a fuel leak on a flight from NY to LHR but rather than land at Shannon to refuel the pilot pushed on and landed at Heathrow then the engines cut out as it was taxiing to the stand.

BA came up with some impressive techno-bollocks about the angle of the fuel tanks on the ground and no-one really bothered much about it but legend has it that the plane was minutes away from falling out of the sky.

Pilot got fired.

All airlines do it, it’s one of those fine calculations between safety and cost.

14h shift after 4 hours sleep; that’s nuts.

crazy-legs – Member

All airlines do it, it’s one of those fine calculations between safety and cost.

I don’t know but when pilots come on record to spill the beans that’s worrying and all airlines should get a kicking in their backsides if they do so.

Unlike a bus crash or sinking ship, a plane crash is almost a sure thing … to pick up human pieces.

When I fly it’s usually 24 hours flight or more for one journey and to top it up within a month I can fly at least 10 times short journey easy.

I have encountered many hairy moments during landing and immediately after take off with some airlines in the far east … you might see my previous thread on this few months ago.

The words “Mayday! Fuel emergency!” is the last thing I want to hear on any airline …

I watched the programme and also read the email exchange between Ryanair and dispatches is it just me or did the email exchange almost exactly replicated an arguement between TJ and don simon?!

Never mind the safety concerns, I wouldn’t fly with the because O Leary is an asshole.

Why does it always seem to be Rynair in negative stories?

Whipping boy/media target or is there actually something in it?

..Ryanair telling his pilots to go self-employed.

Ryan Air are in my opinion and in my direct experience the absolute worst and by some margin.

They may offer some cheap seats but they are the most aggressive in finding ways to charge you extra and if you don’t book early they can and do charge high prices. The whole attitude and approach of the company stinks.

Never mind the safety concerns, I wouldn’t fly with the because O Leary is an asshole.

+1

First against the wall (ok second after Tony Blair) when the revolution comes…..

I never flew with them before, and wouldn’t in the future. Someone who treats their own customers with such contempt doesn’t deserve my business.

+1 for flaperon on the flight time directive.

Separately, Flaperon I was under the impression that Ryanair was registered in Ireland rather than the UK because it allowed them to run operations in a way that would not be possible for an airline registered in the UK. Any insight on that?

If you’re really worried about aviation safety, you’d be far better off objecting to the changes to flight time limitations, which allow for a 14 hour shift following 4 hours sleep.

You’ll have no more excuses for skipping the night ride or not coming down the pub then 😯

Since the Channel 4 Dispatches programme (which previously used actors to promote equally false claims about Ryanair’s cabin crew) has published these false anonymous hearsay claims, and the bogus results of an unreliable, fabricated survey prepared by the European pilot trade union club, Ryanair has instructed its lawyers to issue legal proceedings against Channel 4 Dispatches for defamation and Ryanair looks forward to this matter being resolved in the Courts and the safety of Ryanair’s operations being thoroughly vindicated since the IAA has independently confirmed “Ryanair is on a par with the safest airlines in Europe” and the C4 Dispatches programme has produced no shred of evidence to undermine this independent verification of Ryanair’s outstanding safety.

Longest sentence award goes to… 😯

Other airlines are available.

I wouldn’t fly with them because I want to land in at least some proximity to the city that the airport bares the name of, not on another continent.

Separately, Flaperon I was under the impression that Ryanair was registered in Ireland rather than the UK because it allowed them to run operations in a way that would not be possible for an airline registered in the UK. Any insight on that?

I assume they’re registered in Ireland because, y’know, they’re Irish. Think from a flight safety point of view it makes no odds.

I was under the impression that Ryanair was registered in Ireland rather than the UK because it allowed them to run operations in a way that would not be possible for an airline registered in the UK. Any insight on that?

From my memeory of working in ATC in the UK a few years a go the min fuel requirements are an EU thing and not just the UK.

Have been a controller handling Ryanair flights along ith many countless others and in my experience they are no different to any other European carrier. No more pushy than anyone else at getting direct routings etc. If I was a pilot operating on “fumes” I would certainly be asking for some more direct tracks

My biggest concern were the league tables for fuel usage they produced. To my eye they would force pilots in the ‘relegation zone’ to make calls that they may not be comfortable with, or at very least undue stress. We have a similar system in my workplace, which i disagree with even though i’m generally in the top half of the table. I understand there are pressures on pilots as there are in all jobs, but shaming them to take less fuel does seem a little excessive.

It’s not just the pressure they’re under (all operators want min fuel taken but they should stand by you if you take more for thunderstorms etc), it’s the fact that they often have a very inexperienced first officer fresh out of flight school (which gives them the bare minimum skills to pass the regulatory assessment), paying for their experience (effectively a revenue seat) or on minimum wages. The poor captain works harder as he’s effectively flying single pilot. They have antisocial rosters to make use of cheap landing slots and this contributed to fatigue.

Plus the fact that many are self employed contractors with a contract through a third party agency so they can get binned if they step out of line or build up sufficient experience to become worth a few £££ in wages.

I wouldn’t fly with them nor would I recommend anyone I knew fly with them as I feel their attitude toward safety/business model isn’t what I’d want out of someone who puts safety/customer first.

Bet Ryanair win in court, Mr O’leary never ceases to amaze me with his slippery contempt of those that disagree with him. I find his radio 4 today interviews very enlightening.
Given the state of the world with climate change and all that, don’t you think you’d all better of not flying?