Unlike Most European airlines, including low-cost airlines, Ryanair do not provide bottled water specifically for flight attendants and pilots. This policy confirms the first rule of low-cost airlines — save on literally everything.
However, EasyJet and Vueling, for example, provide bottled water for flight attendants. The problem is that according to post-9/11 security regulations, bottled drinks have to be thrown away in order to pass security checks. And, mind you, not only for passengers, but also for the crew.
And after passing the pre-flight control, it is far from always possible to fill reusable bottles with drinking water.
It turns out that the flight crew does not have access to basic amenities. Such, for example, as office workers with canteens, cafes and shops.
Ryanair flight attendants often do not even have the opportunity to go shopping at the airport, remaining in the cabin of the aircraft for most of their working day, which can last up to 12 hours.
Well, if the Ryanair flight attendant still decides to take a bottle of “passenger” water, he will pay for it at the prices of the onboard store. At Ryanair, a 500 ml bottle of San Bendetto costs 3 euros.
Unions in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain are unhappy with the pace of the airline's promised improvement in working conditions and are threatening a series of coordinated pan-European strikes.
A French union says Ryanair rejected its basic demand for food and water for flight attendants, and now a strike is becoming almost the only option to address the problem.
Ryanair suffered from a wave of strikes in 2018 and 2019, and after that, management finally agreed to allow crew members to unionize. The airline said it plans to improve pay and working conditions by reducing the use of contract personnel and ending the practice of cabin crew paying for their own training and uniforms.