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[Big-ass Ramp]

Ryanair boss: Why does every plane have two pilots?"

Ripclawe: Why does every quote require two quotation marks?"

 

[Revolutionary]

Surely, he can't be serious?

 

[The S-Word]

He suggested having someone in the cabin crew know how to land a plane... IS THAT NOT ALSO A SECOND PILOT?

That's just wanting to hire someone with flying credentials without wanting to pay them pilot wages

 

[MNC]

Surely, he can't be serious?

Yes he is, and stop calling him shirley.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Ah Denis, you mad hatter.

Most of my flights have been with Ryanair, the cost justifies the experience.
Although flew with Aer Lingus a month ago and it was such a great experience, I'm dreading flying with Ryanair again next month

 

[SmokeMaxX]

Eh, all my friends that are pilots that fly even small planes say nowadays planes fly themselves. I'd imagine larger commercial planes are even more technologically advanced than that.

 

[Cereal KiIIer]

Eh, all my friends that are pilots that fly even small planes say nowadays planes fly themselves. I'd imagine larger commercial planes are even more technologically advanced than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXJCHUmuUyw

Here you go. The plane landed itself (the pilot takes back control around 1:40)

 

[Korey]

Eh, all my friends that are pilots that fly even small planes say nowadays planes fly themselves. I'd imagine larger commercial planes are even more technologically advanced than that.

I'll pay $100 more for the flight with the backup pilot, thanks.

 

[SmokeMaxX]

I'll pay $100 more for the flight with the backup pilot, thanks.

That's perfectly fine.

If having one pilot is deemed safe enough under law (which is what would have to happen for this to happen right?) and has a positive track record then I will be perfectly fine paying $100 less than you.

 

[trineo_feo]

Surely, he can't be serious?

 

[Ushojax]

But it raises an interesting question. Why don't we have monkey co-pilots?

 

[Monocle]

Great article. O'Leary is obviously good at his job. His ideas may be unpalatable, but competition and frugality can breed wild things. People will put up with outrageous indignities to save a little cash. I'm not sold on the single pilot thing. Personally, I plan to avoid Ryanair flights for the rest of my life.

 

[soqquatto]

1) I wonder why the news keep on reporting this moron. yes, he's influential, yes, he owns a big company. yes, he's clearly deranged. yes, he has zero power on regulations.

2) please remember that "pay to use the toilet" is still not true. in the unlikely case it becomes true, remember that drinking a jug of milk just before the flight and shitting in your pants in your seat is free, please remember to tell so to your flight attendand. in case of emergency please piss in an empty bottle you conveniently took with you.

3) someone should (again) whak this guy on the head with a 2x4.

 

[n0n44m]

On my last flight with Ryanair the cabin crew spent the entire flight calculating in-flight sales of all the random crap they sell while giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls on a trip (probably because that's their primary source of income)

I'd rather land the plane myself if the pilot died, at least I've seen how they do it on Flight Simulator :/

Ryanair is great for what it is/offers at the moment, but I can't understand why they would feel the need to become even cheaper ... it's already as basic as you could realistically imagine an airline can be

 

[EmSeta]

The co-pilot is not just there as a backup in case the pilot dies. There is a ton of things you have to keep an eye on and manage in flight. Not to mention things that need to be done. While the plane is curing during flight, yes, the two pilots can pretty much sit on their butts without much work, but takeoffs and landing have a ton of things going on at once, especially landings.

Pilot's like any job get tired as the workday goes on. And when the hardest part of the flight is at the end, expecting one person to handle everything (Radio communications, radio frequencies, navigation frequencies, landing navigation patterns, altitude, speed, flaps, landing gear, speed brakes and more) is just insane. For many flight crews the first officer handles the radio com and relays information to the captain, who just worries about flying the plane.

Here's a graph from a flight training class.

 

[Alx]

Next suggestion : parachute drop the passengers over airports. Or put them into ballistic missiles.

 

[Bleepey]

If Ryan air offered long-haul flights to places like New York for like £10 as they were proposing i would not spend my weekends in London. I hope they make long haul transatlantic flights, i would stand up for the whole journey and smile.

 

[jorma]

That's just wanting to hire someone with flying credentials without wanting to pay them pilot wages

Yeah, pretty much.

 

[Zenith]

This is a smart guy. Kinda crazy, but a very interesting dude.

No he isn't, he's a giant troll. You should follow his history. When Activision is known as "the Ryanair of video game publishers" that should tell you something.

Here's an ad Ryanair put out right after they admitted their previous ad attacking Easyjet was false:

Thank god they're an english brand, keep that shit overseas.

 

[Coldsnap]

because it gets boring up there

 

[CheddarApple]

Dont understand the Ryanair hate at all.

At the heart of the O'Leary philosophy is the idea that commercial air passengers are not delicate creatures whose repeat business depends on free pillows, blankets, and tea. Rather, they are hardy beasts—parsimonious when buying a ticket, profligate once in the air—willing to endure discomfort and indignity just so long as they get to their destination cheaply and with their suitcases.

This man talks sense.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Next suggestion : parachute drop the passengers over airports. Or put them into ballistic missiles.

Worked for The Punisher! :lol

 

[ShinNL]

Dont understand the Ryanair hate at all.

At the heart of the O'Leary philosophy is the idea that commercial air passengers are not delicate creatures whose repeat business depends on free pillows, blankets, and tea. Rather, they are hardy beasts—parsimonious when buying a ticket, profligate once in the air—willing to endure discomfort and indignity just so long as they get to their destination cheaply and with their suitcases.

This man talks sense.

Yeah, when I go somewhere by bus or train, I don't expect to have 5* hotel like service either.

You get what you pay for, but if they can half the price for me to Japan or USA, I wouldn't mind using them.

 

[Stormwatch]

Co-pilots are like firefighters. Everyone always wonders what they do and why there are so many of them. But, when your house is on fire you really wish they were there for you. Co-pilots also help handle the radios, monitor engine instruments, check in with the company for weather updates, etc. This guy is a moron.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

When Activision is known as "the Ryanair of video game publishers" that should tell you something.

What? They're polar opposites. Ryanair is all about lowering prices as much as possible in order to save passengers money. Activision is about cutting as many corners as possible while still trying to charge as much as possible.


More people here really need to read the whole article. I think this part in particular should have been bolded, at the very least:

"O'Leary has a dream: that someday all passengers will fly for free on Ryanair and that all of the company's income will come from ancillary revenue, such as baggage fees, in-flight sales, and commissions on travel insurance, hotels, and car rentals sold through the carrier's website. It's a distant dream. Ancillary sales make up only 20 percent of the airline's revenue. The litany of people and institutions he believes are standing between him and his dream includes trade unions (who drive up costs), politicians (who favor state-run airlines), and regulators, who prevent him from enacting efficiencies such as flying short flights with one pilot."

Basically, he's trying to turn Ryanair into the equivalent of a bus. Not desirable, but accessible and convenient for everyone. I think this guy has a good thing going, just so long as all other airlines don't follow suit. But luckily, that won't happen, as there are plenty of people who abhor Ryanair. Haters gonna hate, and for that I'm grateful.

I'm used to long flights as opposed to short ones (I've been from the UK to America about eleven times, which were 10 hour flights, and while there's no way I would put up Ryanair's service for 10 hours (based on what I've read), if the flight were 3 or less hours, I'd definitely put up with shitty service to save that much money.

I'm not sure I agree with the one-pilot thing, but as somebody else has said, if it's first proven that one pilot is safe, and it makes a big difference in the cost of the flight, then I wouldn't mind too much.

As for being bombarded with announcements that try and push products and services on you throughout the flight, just put some headphones on.

 

[Funky Papa]

Dont understand the Ryanair hate at all.

There's a line between cost cutting, no frills airline and "fuck you all" business (ie: arbitrarily preventing you from taking certain items as hand luggage, deceivingly naming airports in the middle of nowhere as if they were near a big city). Ryanair often fails in the second category.

A friend of mine was thrilled to purchase a €30 roundtrip ticket to Paris, only to discover that Paris-Beauvais is almost 100 km away from the actual city. And it was even worse before the EU slapped them for outright lying in the selection menu, explaining the actual location of the airport only in the fine print. God knows how many people tried to reach Frankfurt and ended in Frankfurt-Hahn.

 

[mrklaw]

knock me out and pile me high in the cargo bay like so much canned meat. Just don't bugger me, and make sure to wake me up when we get there - ideally after arriving at my designated hotel.

 

[BlackGoku03]

If I ever have to pay to piss on an airplane I'm going to ask for a bottle of water, pour it out and piss in that.

I know in Germany and other European countries they expect you to "tip" after using the bathrooms but fuck doing that on a plane.

Cool article though.

 

[Zenith]

Dont understand the Ryanair hate at all.

At the heart of the O'Leary philosophy is the idea that commercial air passengers are not delicate creatures whose repeat business depends on free pillows, blankets, and tea. Rather, they are hardy beasts—parsimonious when buying a ticket, profligate once in the air—willing to endure discomfort and indignity just so long as they get to their destination cheaply and with their suitcases.

This man talks sense.

That's the article writer's interpretation of O'Leary, not the man himself.

 

[MWS Natural]

Oh Europe.

 

[Funky Papa]

Oh Europe.

I don't think that's a good card to pull, considering that US companies also treat you like cattle and they are considerably more expensive.

 

[FleckSplat]

Is a flight not entitled to the backup of pilot?

 

[lunarworks]

If he does try to do the One Pilot thing let's see him try to get permission to fly in various countries' airspace...

 

[MWS Natural]

I don't think that's a good card to pull, considering that US companies also treat you like cattle and they are considerably more expensive.

In America we can afford the finest amenities because we don't waist our damn wealth on the poor.

 

[ShinNL]

In America we can afford the finest amenities because we don't waist our damn wealth on the poor.

The same America that owes a lot of money to a lot of countries?

 

[JzeroT1437]

Fuck RyanAir. I flew on them once. And only once.

 

[jiien]

The same America that owes a lot of money to a lot of countries?

People are more vested in our success if we owe them money.

 

[jorma]

In America we can afford the finest amenities because we don't waist our damn wealth on the poor.

Your poor have plenty of waist (hurr durr)

 

[JzeroT1437]

Eh, some people are budget conscious and don't care about inconveniences. He's right. Especially in these times where a majority of people have tight wallets.

We should have a few major airliners that offer all the bells and whistles and a few scraping the bones airliners that are dirt cheap but don't offer commodities previously seen as essential. This is mainly for short flights of course. But anyway, if you knock $50 off my ticket, I don't care if I have a pillow, headphones, a blanket, refreshments, in flight movies, or even a restroom (for flights under a couple of hours).

Most flights I've been on in the last year (and I've been on 21) didn't have those things anyway, except for the bathroom.

 

[Shake Appeal]

I don't think that's a good card to pull, considering that US companies also treat you like cattle and they are considerably more expensive.

And considering that Ryanair is the exception and by no means the rule.

 

[Medalion]

Fucking co-pilots, how do they work?

 

[Soybean]

He's obviously right about what customers want, given their success. I have to wonder myself if I'd be willing to pay more for comfort. On some flights, perhaps (especially cross-country ones). But for most of the ones I take, just give me the cheapest seat possible, with some small degree of safety please.

 

[speculawyer]

Why do we seats & seatbelts? Just pack them in there like a cattle-car!

Why do we need airports? Just land on the local freeway!

why do we need mechanics?

 

[Zabojnik]

So what exactly is the problem with RyanAir, intercom ads aside? I'm flying with them next month for the first time, from Trieste (Italy) to London and back. I don't expect top class service, but then again, the flight from Germany to the USA with Lufthansa was the worst travelling experience I had in my life so far, so how much worse can it be? I only paid 50$.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

The co-pilot is not just there as a backup in case the pilot dies. There is a ton of things you have to keep an eye on and manage in flight. Not to mention things that need to be done. While the plane is curing during flight, yes, the two pilots can pretty much sit on their butts without much work, but takeoffs and landing have a ton of things going on at once, especially landings.

Pilot's like any job get tired as the workday goes on. And when the hardest part of the flight is at the end, expecting one person to handle everything (Radio communications, radio frequencies, navigation frequencies, landing navigation patterns, altitude, speed, flaps, landing gear, speed brakes and more) is just insane. For many flight crews the first officer handles the radio com and relays information to the captain, who just worries about flying the plane.

Here's a graph from a flight training class.

Good post

And the pre flight checklists, that shit is dangerous without a second person as well.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Your poor have plenty of waist (hurr durr)

:lol I was going to do something similar. You rock.

 

[kharma45]

So what exactly is the problem with RyanAir, intercom ads aside? I'm flying with them next month for the first time, from Trieste (Italy) to London and back. I don't expect top class service, but then again, the flight from Germany to the USA with Lufthansa was the worst travelling experience I had in my life so far, so how much worse can it be? I only paid 50$.

I've never had a problem with them, just as long as you know they are flying in its most basic form.

 

[Tony Rocky Horror]

 

[Imm0rt4l]

wasn't it RyanAir who was considering stand up seat ?

I wouldn't doubt it they're a low cost business model. They considered charging for lavatory use, that is if they haven't already put that into practice.

 

[DrForester]

Charging for bathroom use...

It'd be worth it for for the hilarious and inevitable story of some passenger calling them out and demanding to use the bathroom or they're going to drop a deuce in the middle of the cabin.