Ryan Air Flight - Was the Cabin Crew Member in the wrong?

[Witchofzog]

I was sat next to a man who ordered a meal and paid with his card. They initially tried to give his meal to the wrong seat but eventually got it right.

About 10 mins later when he was half way through eating another member of cabin crew asked him for payment. He stated he had already paid and the other member of cabin crew confirmed this (after both quibbling next to my head for 5 mins). However the Cabin Crew Member who asked for payment came back to the man and said it wasn't on the system and he needed to pay it again as it hadn't gone through. He refused saying he would call his bank on landing and if he hadn't paid he would then pay but would not be paying twice.

This woman would not leave it alone. She stood over him (and me) for over 10 mins arguing the case, insisting he pay, saying he should not expect to eat for free and saying if he didn't pay they would take it out of her wages.

To be honest she was rude and unprofessional but at the same time the whole cabin crew looked stressed and unhappy and I wasn't aware the crew would be treated so badly that their wage would be deducted for a non payment.

So I think she was unreasonable but at the same time must be treated appallingly by Ryan Air to behave this way in the first place.

I thought deductions from wages was illegal

I don’t blame him for not paying again. I guarantee it would be murder trying to get his money back if he did pay twice.

But that’s how it works. You don’t walk out of a shop or a restaurant when the card payment doesn’t go through. Or not with the goods you were trying to pay for anyway. It’s the same on Ryanair. The staff shouldn’t have complained but the customer was probably in the wrong here.

I think he behaved fairly. He said he would pay again once he had spoken to his bank. The other cabin crew member said he had definitely paid too so this is why he was hesitant probably

Ryan Air may be awful as a corporate entity and employer but I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the flights and crew

Was he actually trying to eat his lunch while all this was going on? It sounds very annoying!!

He was trying to eat through all of this and actually said a couple of times that He was just trying to eat his lunch but she didn't get the hint at all. She was also breathing all over me and leaning on the seat of the guy in front so he couldn't sit back. It was awkward

That sounds stressful. Surely he would have had an email receipt of the same?

God she sounds super annoying, I'd have handed her back my half eaten lunch and told her to keep it she had already ruined it

We flew Ryan Air two weeks ago and had absolutely no problem whatsoever.

No excuse for rudeness from staff, they shouldn't have argued at your seat. Nor should they have left the customer if they were unsure if the sale had gone through.

However, I can understand why they acted like this. Ryanair staff are docked pay when the bar is down. They are only paid for time in the air - not for their time on the tarmac. They are struggling.

The crew are subject to performance management if they do not meet sales targets - to the point that the crew sometimes club together to buy food/drink/duty free so that someone isn't hauled into the office and threatened with being sacked.

I refuse to fly Ryan Air, they are crap and the sooner they go out of business the better. Sadly I don't think they will- the lure of cheap flights is too strong!

I have never had a bad experience on Ryanair.

But then again I know the drill. And it works brilliantly for me.

Bus in the sky.

I wonder how many are Monarch casualties. I think it is shocking they all have to buy overpriced good etc just to keep their jobs. How much money do cabin crew make? I really do not know but imagine the pay yo be poor. And Ryan Air are very short haul.so I don't imagine there will be many of the perks like glamorous stop overs etc

But it was just one bad employee who was harassing him. Things like this probably happen in restaurants all the time but you aren't sitting so close for it to aggravate you like this.

I think Ryanair are great, They have the best planes and are great value. (I definitely would not buy anything on board though!)

Despise Ryanair. I’d rather not travel than use this airline.

OP - I'm a cabin manager for a different airline. Pay is shocking across the board - but I think Ryanair crew have the worst of it. I've been in the industry a long time and working conditions get worse and worse.

Layovers for short haul crews are often minimum rest (10 hours away from home base). I don't believe Ryanair crew get even that 'luxury' as they don't nightstop.

Ryanair crew don't get paid unless they are in the air - so any delays, boarding etc - is for free.

They are employed by an agency and pay for their own training and accommodation (in Hahn) and I believe their own uniform(!)

There is never an excuse for poor service or rudeness, they are customer service reps alongside their safety role. However knowing how Ryanair are treated at work I'd turn a blind eye.

Most Monarch crew I know went to BA, easyJet or Virgin - they held special recruitment days.

How can it be legal that they are only paid when they’re in the air??

I daresay the crew would have good the food docked from their pay or a disciplinary from their manager. Ryanair is an awful employer. Crew pay for their training, uniform, ID passes, they don’t get night stops just four flights a day there and back. They clean the cabin on turnarounds. They don’t even get free water!

I used to be cabin crew for a good airline. After tax and including flying allowances I was on around £1800 a month - and this was a few years back! Lots of time off, flying all around the world, staying in posh hotels, business class meals provided onboard, lots of time off. It’s probably changed since my day!

She was probably panicking over the inevitable telling off she was going to get.

It's no way to run a company.

@spamfrittersforeveryone Apologies. Crew generally get a very low salary. (10k-15k).

This is then 'topped up' by duty pay - which is to costs of the day. A per diem arrangement for while they're trapped in the metal tube/in a hotel - important as Ryanair don't even provide bottled water on board for their crew.

Most crew have this paid from reporting to duty until they check out to go home.

All in Ryanair pay averages 14k, including this duty pay, commission and bonuses.

It’s legal to only pay them for time in the air because they get a basic minimum pay - it was around £800 a month in my day I think. Then they are paid hourly. Probably something like £3 an hour? I was paid per sector so I don’t really know.

This £3 an hour is only paid from push back to chocks on. Not the airport time.

As far as I know anyway.

Blimey. What bastards.

It wouldn’t surprise me if money came out of her wages as Ryan air are awful to work for. My cousin worked for them as a pilot for a couple of years and even had to buy water on board when he was flying. They’re tight as a gnats chuff!

But that’s how it works. You don’t walk out of a shop or a restaurant when the card payment doesn’t go through.

Bollocks. RyanAir is not a shop. It is a mode of transport and quite a special one given 9/11 and everything we have to go through because of that.

It behoves them to do everything they can to make passengers as safe as possible, and if that means giving staff the leeway to let someone off his £2 meal - which it appears this person had paid for - rather than him kicking off and endangering the whole plane at 30,000ft, then so be it.

I don't really blame the flight attendant for worrying that her wages would have been docked. I know what it's like to work for a shit company. But she should have kept it in perspective.

The difference is that I'm on the ground. No one should fly Ryanair - crew or passenger

It took jet2.com two months to take my card payment. They could be busy by the time he knew if the payment had failed or not.