Why have 140 Ryanair pilots left to join norwegian airline...

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Michael O'Leary would sooner us believe it is pilot holiday backlog that is causing them to cancel flights at short notice, I guess loosing 140 pilots this year alone would affect pilot holiday cover.:) And there could be more: Norwegian aims to add 500 pilots this year, and establish a base in Dublin, Ryanair's home. Why are these pilots leaving in their droves....?
http://uk.businessinsider.com/norwegian-responds-to-ryanair-jab-2017-9
 
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Because they have better career opportunities to move to long haul flying.
 
Why do you think.?
No idea, never flown Ryanair and have no idea of the crews working practices but loosing so many pilots must suggest they are not happy bunnies....

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We use ryanair/easyjet a lot and as long as you expect what you are paying for they are fine its a challenge trying to beat them at their own game on the extra charges and conditions.
 
Because they have better career opportunities to move to long haul flying.
I have flown Norwegian air short haul and would be happy to do so again. I now see Norwegian air advertising very competitive New York flights on new aircraft so you could be right in career opportunities.
 
As I have just mentioned on my posts here

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/cancelled-flight-compensation.160956/

A know a few Pilots, friends, clients etc.

One works for Ryan Air and he went for an interview with Norwegian. He said not only could they not match his current package. But also, he would have to stay away from home a lot. Not something wants to do with a young family. He lives in Stockport and driving to Manchester to fly Short Haul.

Basically, He can leave for work early hours, say 5 am, little traffic. Take a flight out to Palma. Fly a plane back and be home to collect his children from School.

Another note:

I often see Pilots walking to work!.

They are mostly Foreign Pilots who have rented accommodation in nearby Wythenshawe (ex local authority - now Private lets). And, some are Scandinavian Pilots working for............Norwegian.

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Norwegian air any day off the week. Much more civilised, friendly, and professional.
Happy staff make happy customers.
 
They cancelled our outward and return flights last night by email.
That's why we have a motorhome.
No more of being treated like cattle, having to arrive and park at an airport hours and hours before a flight and breathing in all sorts of nasties from the air con.

Love flying, but not the hassle and agro that seems to go with it now.

Richard.
 
I think that Thompson holidays who have their own large fleet of aircraft are now chartering Norwegian air for both long and short haul flights.
 
That's why we have a motorhome.
No more of being treated like cattle, having to arrive and park at an airport hours and hours before a flight and breathing in all sorts of nasties from the air con.

Love flying, but not the hassle and agro that seems to go with it now.

Richard.



Totally agree with this.

Has there ever been an industry that appears to go out of its way to annoy its customers more than the commercial flying industry.

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After avoiding Ryanair for 15 years we used them last year. They did eventually get us there in one piece but every other aspect of it was terrible.

Never ever again, if Ryanair is the only choice I would rather not go.

Jon
 
Many new pilots use Ryanair as an hour building employment which gives them better chance of securing a job with one of the mainstream airlines. Ryanair thus has a high rate of churn. This isn't the reason for the cancelled flights though. Pilot hours are limited partly by rolling limits as in previous twentyfour hours, seven days, monthly but they also have an overall maximum annual limit. Most airlines moved to a January to December year some time back, Ryanair didn't, instead using a March to April year which allowed them to maximise pilot hours during the busiest summer months. Many Ryanair pilots actually doing minimal to zero hours during the winter months. The Irish transport minister ordered them to stop doing this and comply with European regulations which use a January to December year to ensure that pilots hours are properly averaged over the entire year. This meant that loads of Ryanair pilots were suddenly out of hours and so Ryanair couldn't operate all flights they thought they could. Entirely Ryanair's fault for trying to cheat the system.
 
  • Why do people who have never flown Ryanair or who don't want to fly at all come on criticising them, we also fly with them and love them, we go to faro every winter with them for less than it costs to get the van out of the shed.
We use ryanair/easyjet a lot and as long as you expect what you are paying for they are fine its a challenge trying to beat them at their own game on the extra charges and conditions.

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Many new pilots use Ryanair as an hour building employment which gives them better chance of securing a job with one of the mainstream airlines. Ryanair thus has a high rate of churn. This isn't the reason for the cancelled flights though. Pilot hours are limited partly by rolling limits as in previous twentyfour hours, seven days, monthly but they also have an overall maximum annual limit. Most airlines moved to a January to December year some time back, Ryanair didn't, instead using a March to April year which allowed them to maximise pilot hours during the busiest summer months. Many Ryanair pilots actually doing minimal to zero hours during the winter months. The Irish transport minister ordered them to stop doing this and comply with European regulations which use a January to December year to ensure that pilots hours are properly averaged over the entire year. This meant that loads of Ryanair pilots were suddenly out of hours and so Ryanair couldn't operate all flights they thought they could. Entirely Ryanair's fault for trying to cheat the system.
Or, alternatively, whoever drew up inflexible rules for the sake of inflexibility.
Thanks for the explanation. I have listened to various news bulletins and it wasn't exactly clear why they have suddenly run short of pilots.
 
Clear explanation - thank you. Nothing new in O'Leary trying to game the system to his advantage and he usually gets it right. This time he didn't. As for not flying Ryanair, we've used them regularly for 15 years to and from Spain. They are a flying bus company, nothing more or less, but we've had very few reasons to complain about their time-keeping or service. Their customers are worse than the airline frankly.

If you want old-fashioned airline standards, be prepared to pay the price. We can fly to Germany to visit family for around £60 return with Ryanair or pay £260 to do the same trip with Air Berlin, routing via Palma de Majorca which adds 2 hours to the journey.
 
This news is not as new as yesterday.
Last weekend I read on a Camino de Santigo forum of a Canadian chap who had organised to fly out of Beauvais Airport, Paris to get to Biarritz and just before he set out from across the Atlantic, he was sent a text cancelling his flight on the 15th.
This left the pilgrim with the alternative of being stuck in northern France or paying 130€ for a TGV ticket
 
After avoiding Ryanair for 15 years we used them last year. They did eventually get us there in one piece but every other aspect of it was terrible.

Never ever again, if Ryanair is the only choice I would rather not go.

Jon
Just for clarity; we used to use the fairly regularly in the early days but they steadily went downhill and the extra charges got more and more ridiculous so we had stopped using them.

Overall I think its a shame that they keep the prices too low that d it stifles competition. I would be happy to pay somewhere in between for a better service that travels reliably at better times but don't need the frills of the flag carriers.
 
We,ve used ryanair a few times and to be fair you get what you pay for.Luckily for us the last time our daughter and kids flew bristol/reus with them end of August,before all the mass cancellations, to meet up with us for a couple weeks then returned easyjet barcelona bristol .Each time boarding passes printed off and cabin bags only measured carefully and they sailed through no problems.

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That's why we have a motorhome.
No more of being treated like cattle, having to arrive and park at an airport hours and hours before a flight and breathing in all sorts of nasties from the air con.

Love flying, but not the hassle and agro that seems to go with it now.

Richard.

I would travel by Motorhome over the flights. But we both still work and its cheaper. This years record was £8.74 one way.
 
That's why we have a motorhome.
No more of being treated like cattle, having to arrive and park at an airport hours and hours before a flight and breathing in all sorts of nasties from the air con.
Love flying, but not the hassle and agro that seems to go with it now.
Richard.
Each has their place, breakfast in the UK and lunch in southern Portugal is just one example. Breakfast in the UK and dinner in new York is another. Have you tried Heathrow T5 it takes many of your negatives out of flying.
Motorhomes are great but just a tool in the box of leisure activities.(y)
 
Many new pilots use Ryanair as an hour building employment which gives them better chance of securing a job with one of the mainstream airlines. Ryanair thus has a high rate of churn. This isn't the reason for the cancelled flights though. Pilot hours are limited partly by rolling limits as in previous twentyfour hours, seven days, monthly but they also have an overall maximum annual limit. Most airlines moved to a January to December year some time back, Ryanair didn't, instead using a March to April year which allowed them to maximise pilot hours during the busiest summer months. Many Ryanair pilots actually doing minimal to zero hours during the winter months. The Irish transport minister ordered them to stop doing this and comply with European regulations which use a January to December year to ensure that pilots hours are properly averaged over the entire year. This meant that loads of Ryanair pilots were suddenly out of hours and so Ryanair couldn't operate all flights they thought they could. Entirely Ryanair's fault for trying to cheat the system.

Mmmm........ almost completely wrong
you have some dates right but the rest is way off
 
I would travel by Motorhome over the flights. But we both still work and its cheaper. This years record was £8.74 one way.
First time I flew Ryan was just after my wife died in 2008 . Never flown on my own before, saw an advert fly for £6 so went for it to see my mate in Portugal who had also lost his wife. Wouldn't ever of dreamed of going on my own if it hadn't been for Ryanair. I did learn my lesson very quick though, don't buy the food on the plane, two cheese sandwhichs and a coffee cost me just twice as much as the fare:(
And I have stuck with them every year since. Love Ryanair (y)(y):)

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