flight attendant

pilot

first officer

captain

aeronautical engineer

Ryanair

When I first started working at Ryanair, I was genuinely excited about the opportunities it offered. The training program was six weeks long and very intensive, but it provided a solid foundation for the role. It prepared me well for the fast-paced nature of the job, and I appreciated how thorough it was. Getting to travel across Europe and meeting people from all walks of life was a highlight. However, while travel discounts were advertised as a perk, I found that they were sometimes more expensive than regular tickets available online, which was disappointing.

As I settled into the role, I began to notice some downsides. Tight schedules, long working hours, and the constant push to meet performance targets are all part of the job. One aspect I found particularly frustrating was the way sales were handled on board. Sales are not shared among the crew, meaning everyone is competing for their own commission. This often led to situations where some crew members would hog sales opportunities, leaving others with little chance to earn commission. While competition might motivate some, it felt counterproductive and undermined teamwork.

Dealing with crew control was another major challenge. Often, it felt like the staff weren’t properly trained to handle the demands of their roles. Communication could be unclear or unhelpful, adding frustration during critical moments. If you were on home standby, sometimes they wouldn't even ring or send a text to let you know that you had been put on a flight. This lack of communication would result in no-shows, causing further stress and confusion. It’s hard to maintain good performance when you’re not receiving timely updates or proper communication from crew control.

Additionally, the strict attendance policies made it difficult to progress within the company. Even though they assure you not to come in when you have a bad cold or an ear infection, you are still punished for calling in sick. This creates a culture of discouraging employees from taking time off when they are genuinely unwell, which is both frustrating and unfair. Taking sick leave, even when advised, can still have a negative impact on your chances of moving up or getting recognized, which adds unnecessary stress to an already demanding job.

While you don't get off the plane during layovers, it's still nice to say you've "been" to different countries. The cabin crew experience allows you to travel across Europe, and although you don’t explore the destinations in the traditional sense, just being in different places, even if it's only at the airport, adds a unique sense of achievement.

That said, Ryanair is a fantastic stepping stone for anyone looking to get into a cabin crew career. It’s a great way to gain experience, build resilience, and learn the fundamentals of the role in a busy, high-pressure environment. However, once you feel you’ve gained everything you can from the experience, it becomes clear that moving on to another company is necessary if you want better opportunities, improved working conditions, or career progression.

Overall, working at Ryanair has its highs and lows. The training is excellent, and the opportunity to travel across Europe is exciting, but the job can be demanding. The lack of shared sales often creates tension among the crew, communication from crew control can be poor, travel discounts don’t always live up to expectations, and strict attendance policies make it hard to advance if you need time off due to illness. Ryanair is a great entry point into the aviation industry, but it’s not somewhere to stay long-term if you’re looking for career growth and better working conditions.

Job work/life balance: The inflight department in STN is the worst place ever. Manager doesn't know how to treat people.It's very commom to hear that the manager is shouting on the cabin crew. It's  so usual that they make jokes about it. People in the office make bets to see how long someone is going to last with the manager. On the interview they advice to not listen to the rumors regarding the management but in one week you can be sure that the rumors about the bad management are right. They said they provide training but it's a lie. No training.No respect.Bullying, harassment and corruption all the time. If you complain about the management you get fired. If you question something you are wrong. If you as for help nobody helps and you are wrong all the time. No team player. They ask you to work overtime with no compensation on your salary but you can't turn your computer on 1 min after your duty start. Pressure with no reason. You will also be required to do tasks that are not your job tasks such as lift weights and heavy boxes, cut tons of uniforms without appropriate scissors, pregnant girls with 7 months of pregnancy will do filling sitting on the floor for the supervisors, cleaning the crewroom, cutting uniforms without appropriate scissors, lifting weight/boxes. Phrases as : Who do you think you are, or Google it when you don't understant something, or You are not in your country, are said frequently by Managers and Personnel.

Salary and benefits: Just your salary - average for the position. Benefits on flights only after one year probation period. No paid sick days on probation period as well. No other benefits.

Job security/advancement: Job security and advancement is based in corruption. If you make the manager happy with presents , chocolates and wine and being a slave you may get transfers or promotions. If you want to just do your job in a professional way you are deemed to be bullied. No progression at all. If you apply internally you will never get any reply from personnel. Everybody in the company is afraid of getting in conflict with the Inflight manager for some reason.

Management: The worst I have ever seen. Discrimination, bullying and harassment accepted by managers at ALL levels including Personnel. Even with proofs of bullying and aggression to another employee. The company policy does not match what they practice. Don't forget. You are just a employee number in probation period and they will do whatever they want. If you put a grievance letter against a manager this will not be considered and you will be invited for a performance meeting to prepare you to be fired on the next month. 

Job culture: Read manuals. Don't ask for anyone's help. If you don't know how to do something, do it wrong and after that you will still be wrong. Don't forget this: You are always wrong even if you are right and they do their best to make you feel miserable everyday. Company culture - Ryanair don't care about you.

This job is one you’ll either love or hate, but even if you love it, you’ll still be treated as expendable. The company has a high turnover rate for a reason: they treat their staff poorly.

Despite having a policy that encourages employees not to fly when unwell, you’ll face disciplinary action for calling in sick, even for something as minor as a cold.  

The holiday bidding system is flawed at best. Summer and winter leave are released separately, but even when you request days you’re available, they can deny them for vague "operational reasons." You might apply for multiple dates only to have them all rejected, then be assigned days that suit the company, regardless of important personal events like weddings or birthdays.  

Pay issues are frequent, with mistakes often going unresolved until the following month. And don’t be surprised if they find ways to deduct from your earnings.  

Since commission is the main way to earn decent money, expect colleagues to steal sales, sometimes openly, sometimes behind your back. Another issue is staff consuming food and drinks from the onboard bars, which leads to collective punishment. With no proper investigations, many end up thinking, "If I’m going to be penalised anyway, I might as well do it too."

Rules especially regarding rest periods are often ignored. There will be times you don’t get your minimum rest, or it’ll be interrupted. And don’t count on your days off being respected, you’ll still get calls asking you to work.

Alarm goes of at 3 am to drag your self out of bed from the maybe 2 hours of sleep you managed to grab. 

You do the best you can to grab a cup of tea and put on the uniform your given and the make up spilled through your draw. 

Eventually you find your self at the desk where you are to be briefed and asked your safety and first aid questions, in cabin crew there is no space for hiccups. 

You've got onto the aircraft and done all of your security checks knowing that this flight to Magaluf will defiantly be one to remember.

180 people ready to get on their summer holidays safely sat down and in the air the fun begins - In one flight you maybe able to serve drinks just the once - answering call bells throughout - you have sick bags to the ready and very quickly running out of change for the stag who just purchased the majority of the beer. 

Your co-workers are hard working and honest people who have trained by your side getting the same high requirements you got to make sure no matter what - you are safe.

The flight is busy but going smooth - the four of you have got it all under control and before you know it just two and a half hours later you feel the heat hit you as you open the plane door - hardest part being you are not getting off - but you do get to clean up all that rubbish left a repeat your security checks.

Three more flights later repeating the "Get them on - Give them drinks - Get them off - attempt to clean" process you find your self at the same desk you started on checking money - filling out any first aid reports or incidents.

After leaving the house at 4 am you are back hopefully by 6pm.

The hardest part of the job wasn't the passengers or the challenge in which they threw to you, the hardest was letting them go on holiday while you clean dirty nappies of the floor.

The best part - Should any one really need your help - such as first aid, there may be  chance that your involvement may have just saved their life.

Ryanair is a pretty awful company and it treats everyone badly and disrespectfully starting from customers and extending it to workers. (You can check that by the large number of strikes pilots made a few months ago). They only care about numbers and you will be treated as a number as well. There's a lot of sales, sales and more sales to do. And if you don't achieve the day's target......... 
It's a perfect place for you to feel like an unworthy human being: very disrespectful base supervisors and managers, yelling at everyone they can, and being impatient even with new crew members. Even small things you do "wrong", you will have a meeting. I saw a lot of cabin crews crying after these meetings, and they think it's fine to make people cry. The salary is a joke. You will receive less than every worker around UK and believe me, this is true. All that "glamorous" idea and life you see in advertisements as a Cabin Crew, disappear when you join Ryanair. It's a complete illusion. A lot of disrespectul No1 cabin crews too. 
More than 85% of the cabin crews of Stansted (including No1s)  say they don't like the company, the management....and that they don't care about anything. So, if every arrow is pointing for the same direction, it must mean something, right? 
As long as the company keeps aiming on a lot of countries in crisis, there will be new staff members coming up. And a lot of people is only working for Ryanair because they don't want to suffer hunger in their countries and they don't have any other options. 
But....AVOID it at all costs!! However....if you have a dream beeing a Cabin Crew... AVOID AS WELL!! 
As I've said Before: That idea of a Glamurous life working as a Cabin Crew, flying around the world, etc, meeting new places, simply disappear when you join Ryanair.
As for new members coming up, I can only wish a VERY GOOD LUCK. And a lot of patience as well hahaha
The worst company I've worked in my life. By far. Thank god I've left.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The crew that you work with will make the long days and any delays so much better. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Delays well out with your control, for example atc slots. You will always get passengers complaining to you about it but it’s not your fault. 
Any medical issues on board can also be stressful, especially if no doctor on board. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
This will very much depend on the base but 9 time out of 10 it will be a good environment to be in however you will find some bases where the crew are quite rude and nasty to each other. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Report can be as early as 4:30am some days which would mean getting to up as early as 2am. You meet the crew at the aircraft for report time and then do a brief and complete checks. Once we’ve done this we will board the passengers, shut the doors, do the safety demo and take off. Once in the air, depending on the length of the flight (2+ hours) we will do a hot food service, where we take pre orders for any hot meals, then we will complete the drinks and snacks service and give out any hot food which has been ordered. After the services, it’s time for scratch cards where we will go up the cabin asking if anyone wishes to buy any scratch cards where all money goes towards children charities. After the scratch cards, it’s duty free and gifts service. Finally we will complete another drinks and snacks service before doing our safety checks before landing. During the turnaround, we collect all rubbish and make sure nothing was left behind such as phones, passports or any personal belongings. Then it’s time to do it all again. 
The days can be very very long. For example, you could do this 4 times in one day.

The hours are very high, which yes is expected but you can work way past overtime due to delays. Minimum rest is a very common thing! Considering they expect so much from you as crew, they don’t allow you to rest or eat properly - which then of course leads to many more issues. In fairness, the job itself was enjoyable and not too crazy the majority of their time, but there are so many issues underlying the role itself. You can meet a great range of people, but you never tend to work with the same people, especially as they’re recruiting so many people as of recently. Another issue which a lot of airlines/crew don’t face is the fact that us crew pay for A LOT. such as your airport ID (£100+), your medical exam (nearly £200), your parking (£70 monthly), your sick days! and after all that, there is no crew food which other airlines most definitely do offer. Of course it can be different for everyone and every base but my experience put me off cabin crew for good, unfortunately. And although the negatives outweigh the positives, I will say that the pay is good. If you work plenty enough which i’m sure you will, you will get a great monthly wage. Although i’m sure this may vary from person to person and base to base but in my experience, I was always working maximum hours whilst the rest of the people from my training course were working about 50 hours less than me per month! This is great for a wage but for work and life balance it isn’t. Especially knowing that your colleagues aren’t getting the same crazy hours as you. But this can also be a positive for some people! It’s honestly all preference.

A typical day would involve a start time as early as 5am on an early shift and finishing as late as midnight on a late shift. The average length of a shift would be approximately 9 hours, however it was not unusual to work up to 12 hour shifts and even longer, if delayed. The start of the day, would involve meeting the rest of your crew and supervisor for a briefing, then going on board the aircraft to complete pre-departure inspections, receiving passengers, assisting them in any way possible, ensuring a speedy boarding process, performing the safety demonstration, securing the cabin for take off, serving drinks and snacks and preparing hot food during the flight as well as duty free goods, preparing the cabin for landing, disembarking passengers safely and carrying out security checks and general tidying of the aircraft in preparation for the next load of passengers. I learned the importance of time management and organisational skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with people, to resolve any issues, how to keep cool under pressure and most importantly team work. The most enjoyable part of the job was meeting new people and working alongside colleagues of different nationalities and cultures, developing good personal and professional relationships. The hardest part of the job would have to be coping with delays (which was frustrating for passengers and crew) as well dealing with passenger issues/ complaints, which was challenging at times, however training, resourceful thinking and an understanding attitude and tactful approach, always overcame any problems.

Overall your total investment to become Ryanair cabin crew will be up to £4,500.. (inc. Training, accomodation, food, ID, loss of earnings, security clearances) please bare this in mind. Depending on your base this could be a good investment, if you are based in your homeplace, and many places have a low cost of living compared to the salary which is great. However many places do not, e.g. Stansted. Stay there for longer and the salary is good for the amount of work you do- but remember to save as the winter months are very quiet (again, depending on base), and remember you only get paid for your block hours and theres no guarantee of work. One month I got paid £300, I would say the average for the first year was about £1,200, however where I was living the cost of living was very cheap, and the salary will increase the longer you work there. 

Most people will leave, many to other airlines, like myself, so its a great stepping stone, another benefit is that they offer you a 3 years contract which some airlines only offer 6 months. They work you like slaves however its a start for getting into the industry. Ryanair operation is like a well oiled machine, They offer no crew food, and expect you to sell sell sell. There is a pressure in the company when I was there that sales were put over safety, however I am more than sure that it is not like this anymore.

I do recommend ryanair as a start for a career as cabin crew, stay there for 14 months then move on. OR- if you get based in your home, then it is a good choice to stay, unless there are other airlines in your area.

Working as a cabin crew member is not an easy task as it may be seen as it such easy job. It takes a lot of responsibilty to be part of this company.
A typical day at work looks like this :I was briefed by the captain and Cabin Crew Supervisor (weather,passanger load,the boeing 737-800),
While in the aircraft ensuring all the equipment on board was fine including oxygen bottels and first aid kits. Once passangers were on board greet them allocate the seats if needed. I instructed passengers in the use of emergency doors.I check to see that passengers seat belts were fastened and bags were properly stowed prior to takeoff and landing. During the flight I was selling drinks and snacks and duty free products. At the end of each flight I had to count the money and lodge it to the safe.
During my employment I learned a lot about teamwork and customer service as I had to deal with a lot of complaints e.g delays.
I am a very friendly person and I really enjoy meeting new people so for me it was easy to be a friend with my co-workers.
In my opinion the hardest part of this job is that the working hours are long and the main hardest part is that this job is dangerous as in case of any emergency situation I had to make decissions and evacuate the passangers.
I think that the most enjoyable part of the job is meeting new people - both passengers and crew.
As every job it has advantages and disadvantages. It was a great experiance for me to be a part of Ryanair however I think one year of flying is enough for me.

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