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#1 Dublin, five years, number one for three, made it at 24, and the question I get from second year crew is whether to go for the number one grade early. Here is the job and the honest answer.
The grade
Number one is Ryanair's cabin supervisor. The senior crew member on the flight, responsible for the cabin, the paperwork, the crew, the sales, the passenger issues. On a 737 with four crew, you are one of four working the trolley and also the one who signs for everything.
How fast it comes
Fast, by industry standards. Ryanair grows, bases open, and number ones are needed. Eighteen months to two years of clean flying and a course application is realistic at a lot of bases. I did it at 24 with two years. Some do it at 22. The company promotes on record and availability, not on age.
What it pays
A higher basic, a higher sector rate, a number one allowance, and a bigger share of the sales commission at some bases. Roughly 25 to 30 percent more than a senior crew member on the same roster. On the direct contract, at a busy base, in summer, that is real money for a 24 year old.
What it costs
The crew are no longer your mates on the aircraft, which Amy wrote about for easyJet and which is the same here. The complaints have your name on them. The turnaround is your responsibility and the on time performance is measured by base and by number one, and you will hear about it. And the sales: as number one, the flight's sales are your energy, and a bad sales month is a conversation.
Should you take it young
If you are reliable, if you can be the one people look at when it goes wrong, and if you want to be, yes. The early number ones I know are good at it because they had no bad habits yet. The ones who struggled were the ones who took it for the money and did not want the role. The money is real. The role is the job. Take it for the role.
What I would tell a second year crew member
Do the course when it opens. Fly with the best number ones at your base and copy them. And on your first flight as number one, do the brief properly, say everyone's name, and eat. The rest follows.
Questions from the second year crew welcome.
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#2 Bergamo, number one at 25, six years in, and Liam has it exactly. The early number ones with no bad habits are the good ones. And 'take it for the role' is the sentence I would put on the course application form.
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#3 In training and already thinking about it, which is probably the wrong order, but the 'fly with the best number ones and copy them' advice is the kind I can act on from week one.
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#4 easyJet cabin manager, and the trade is identical across the low cost carriers: the mates on the aircraft, the name on the complaint, the money that is real. Liam's version at 24 is faster than ours. The role is the same.
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#5 Dublin crew, not number one by choice, and I want to say for balance that staying as crew is a real decision and some of the best people at the base have made it. The number one grade is not the only version of a good career here.
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#7 Viva, and our supervisor grade comes at the same speed for the same reason: growth. The low cost model promotes fast because it has to. Take it for the role. Same advice, different country.
