I've flown with them once from PIK to MJV, but no matter how cheap they were, I dont intend going anywhere near them again after seeing the terrifying breaches in security here. Faulty slides, napping cabin crew (who are working for a pittance considering what they do), vomit on the floor. Scary, SCARY stuff.

Efin

Watching it now, with 30 min delay (sorry I HAD to watch the second episode of the new series of 24 first).

Shame Channel 4 no longer has "Right To Reply". I shall keep a close eye on the Dispatches section of the Ryanair website.

Shocker!

What are the chances of half of Ryanair's roster being turned away at Stansted's door tomorrow?

<shudder> That's one scary airline.

OK, it's over. I naturally expect the boards at another pplace to start warming up.

Of course people are going to complain that the programme wasn't balanced, but there were certainly parts that were undeniably questionable:

(a) The apparent faking of references;
(b) The possibility of an aircraft departing with an unsafe slide.

But then there were parts of the programme that were definitely unfair to Ryanair too:

(c) The delays on boarding. Anyone working for any airline could delay an aircraft by spending too much time on checking the documentation. Yes, there should be security but it must be done appropriately.
(d) The non-opening of the bars on the ground in Spain. Well if they're not allowed to open them, what's the Captain supposed to do?

And certainly Ryanair's claim at the end that "900 hours works out at 18 hours a week" leaves Joe Public with completely the wrong impression as to FC hours.

It was interesting that the focus of the programme was more on corporate culture, mis-management of staff and poor rosters rather than proving that Ryanair is an unsafe airline.

On the basis of today's programme I didn't see anything that would make me never fly with them again (although I would think twice...)

Hmmm, that programme did nothing whatsoever to tempt me away from my staple diet of KLM, BA, BMI and SN.

It's finished, but on again: -

3.25am Wednesday 15th February 2006 set those videos, or if you are blessed with Sky + - use that!

Well I've always thought it and now I know it : FR is the crummiest outfit that ever had the gall to call itself an airline. :td: :td: :td:

What about the training - I've never witnessed such bad training. If what my FA friend at BA says, their annual tests are hard. An quite frankly, that's what I expect. Somebody who works at Abercrombie and Fitch could get a job with Ryanair (have you ever been into Abercrombie and Fitch - if you have, you should know what I mean!)...

Flying with an inoperable escape slide, without reducing the passenger numbers and informing them as required to do so, is quite enough for me.

And added to that is the fact that Ryanair have no record of it - come on!

Also showing again on More4 Saturday at 8.10pm.

Ryanair is one nasty airline. Nasty to its Pilots, nasty to its cabin crew and and nasty to you. That's all I gotta say.

I know what you're saying Dave, but there was an element of doubt in the reporter's head as to whether the arrow was in the green or not. I'm not saying there wasn't a problem just that it didn't seem certain to me.

I mean I won't be travelling Ryanair myself any time soon - and all that business about the pax in 1A dying on the 737-200. What was all that about?!

I remember the other Dispatches programme about BA staff drinking. A lot of ppeople complained about that too being a hatchet-job. Yes: parts of it were. But as with this there's certainly a case to answer for. Even if it is isolated incidents.

I have mixed feelings. I've seen many of these type of undercover investigations before and it is terribly easy to make fairly mundane shortcomings look like terrible safety breaches.

For example, on my flight back from MUC on Friday (on BA) which was delayed 3.5 hours due to blizzard conditions at MUC, the captain told us before we left the gate that either himself or the FO would be popping out of the flight deck to check the wings after de-icing to ensure they were happy that all the ice had been removed. In the event, this did not happen. We got de-iced then took off.

How easy would it be to make the above situation look like a serious security breach in an undercover investigation? "In a shocking safety breach, the Captain placed the safety of all 180 passengers solely on the assurances of the de-icing team that they had cleared all the ice, without checking himself, despite assurances that he would" etc. etc. you get the picture.

It is interesting to read the to and fro letters on the Ryanair website about this. Interesting to note the following:

- Ryanair sent the initial Despatches letter and their first (admittedly fairly comprehensive) reply to the CAA and IAA and the MD of Stansted Airport of their own free will

- It appears that both aviation authorities saw no evidence to warrant an investigation (although I think at that stage the undercover video evidence may not have been available)

I'm not defending Ryanair. I think they are a pretty awful airline, led by a particularly odious man. But I just want to reinforce the old cliché "Don't believe everything you see on TV".