Asked for tip on a commercial flight?

cowtowner

cowtowner

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Cowtowner
Flying back from Mexico yesterday (my plane is in the shop) on their low cost carrier Viva Aerobus. Bought a bottle of water (because you pay for everything) and the gal asked for a tip on the credit card.

hey, it's 2023. But a first for me.
 
cowtowner said:
the gal asked for a tip
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Here is a tip fer ya...... invest in your future, think stem, then get a better paying job.

(omg I sound like my dad...)

But seriously, I would have given her a quarter, or handed the bottle back.

I have been tipped for flying folks. I appreciated it, but I never asked for it.
 
When i worked for a company that paid us about 1/4th of what our competitors paid thier pilot.......................Then pax would complain about things, especially the poor service. i felt like putting a box at the entryway that said............"Tip your crew what you think your life was worth". MGT didn't seem to appreciate my humor. But it seemed appropriate.
I really don't like the whole tipping thing at all. Unfortunatley its a growing problem,.
 
Oldmanb777 said:
When i worked for a company that paid us about 1/4th of what our competitors paid thier pilot.......................Then pax would complain about things, especially the poor service. i felt like putting a box at the entryway that said............"Tip your crew what you think your life was worth".
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I flew the J32 Jetstream for American Eagle in the early 1990s. IIRC, the F/O pay was $15.50/hr so about $15,000 per year.

The J32 had only a curtain separating the cockpit from the cabin and our two flight bags, almost always the big leather flight cases back then, sat in the middle giving the passengers a full view of the ends of our bags. One of our F/Os taped a copy of his year-end W2 form to the end of his flight bag for all the passengers to see. I don't remember anything every coming from it.

The only time I've been tipped was when flying Grand Canyon tours and that was still pretty rare.

At the Major airline, a passenger will occasionally bring something from the crew but it's never been money. Closest was a $5 Starbucks card for each crewmember. Other times it's a small bag of chocolates given to the F/As.
 
Larry in TN said:
At the Major airline, a passenger will occasionally bring something for the crew but it's never been money. Closest was a $5 Starbucks card for each crewmember. Other times it's a small bag of chocolates given to the F/As.
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I would wager those treats were provided by a grateful non-revving employee pass-rider.
 
Tipping has gone out of control. I cringe every time when I go to a freaking counter service restaurant and the card machine has the tipping thing on the screen. I’m carrying my food to the table, you ain’t getting a tip for merely doing the bare minimum of your job. Or even better, Drive thru service. Starbucks now asks for a tip in their drive thru. Totally dumb, and I am not tipping. I tip in all the traditional places where tipping is expected and justified for excellent service but I don’t in any of these places that traditionally never asked for a tip. The staff in those places make a $15 per hour minimum wage for literally scooping rice. I don’t care how well you scoop it, it sure doesn’t deserve a tip.

Rant over.
 
Delta used to give "thanks for a good job" coupons to their top tier flyers. I asked an FA one time if they got anything for them. Apparently there was a catalog with stuff they could buy with the points from the coupons. I made sure to use mine up each year.
 
Larry in TN said:
I flew the J32 Jetstream for American Eagle in the early 1990s. IIRC, the F/O pay was $15.50/hr so about $15,000 per year.

The J32 had only a curtain separating the cockpit from the cabin and our two flight bags, almost always the big leather flight cases back then, sat in the middle giving the passengers a full view of the ends of our bags. One of our F/Os taped a copy of his year-end W2 form to the end of his flight bag for all the passengers to see. I don't remember anything every coming from it.

The only time I've been tipped was when flying Grand Canyon tours and that was still pretty rare.

At the Major airline, a passenger will occasionally bring something from the crew but it's never been money. Closest was a $5 Starbucks card for each crewmember. Other times it's a small bag of chocolates given to the F/As.
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I remember that. As I recall BL told him to take if off but he refused. Nothing came of it. (It’s been a long time and I could be wrong about that)
 
Busflyer said:
I remember that. As I recall BL told him to take if off but he refused. Nothing came of it. (It’s been a long time and I could be wrong about that)
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I didn't remember that part. Sounds exactly like how BL would have handled it, though.
 
Here is a tip...Never slide down a telephone pole nude.
 
Back when I worked at a 135 outfit, somebody found a jar and taped it to the inside of the passenger compartment of one of the SK-76s. Up next to the No Smoking-Fasten Seat Belt sign. Whoever it was marked it "TIPS" in big letters, then took a picture of it. There was a short huddle. Who or where to send the pic. It was decided that the Training Dept was the best place. Anonymously, in the company mail. Those Check Airmen were as "cool" as we working pilots plus the company "suits" usually stopped in at the Training shop daily. It was posted on their bulletin board.

Meanwhile, back at the base, the evidence was destroyed. Not much was officially said, but there was an uptick in visits from the head shed. Lots of interest in eyeballing all the parked SK-76s on the ramp.

Of course, we transported all the working stiffs. The brass from the major energy companies were also our regular passengers. Up to and including the CEOs.
 
I’ve worked in F&B previously, tips received were all over the place, but it’s part of the job and that was fine. You’d regularly get nothing from some groups, a couple bucks from another, to 30-40% from another group. No point to dwell on it, take the money and move on.

I’m totally against tipping Starbucks or places where you have to order at the register. Swipe your card and a tip screen comes up, how did we do? Fair 25% Good 30% Excellent 35%. Well you’re getting nothing. I’m already paying a premium for the mediocre food, why would I tip. I’m sure some people support this, and that’s what causing the greed. Well if you want to tip 30% then good for you it averages out my 0. Thank you.

Then another thing, tip based upon service received in full service establishments. A server who has a bad day, can’t be bothered to give you silverware when your food arrived, can’t be bothered to check in on how everything is, well they had a bad day and they deserve 0 tip. The problem is we “feel bad” for them and still tip them, then why would any service worker want to work or deliver a good experience if they still get paid for delivering bad experiences??
 
mandm said:
Then another thing, tip based upon service received in full service establishments. A server who has a bad day, can’t be bothered to give you silverware when your food arrived, can’t be bothered to check in on how everything is, well they had a bad day and they deserve 0 tip. The problem is we “feel bad” for them and still tip them, then why would any service worker want to work or deliver a good experience if they still get paid for delivering bad experiences??
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It depends a bit on the type of restaurant, too. A high-end steak or seafood place, I expect good service and I'll leave a low (or no) tip if it's not. This person collects a lot of $30+ tips and is doing pretty well, but also getting stiffed out of what should be a $30 tip will be noticed and maybe the service will improve.

At the local diner, though, when the waitress isn't earning nearly as much and is likely struggling to get by and the tab is only twenty bucks anyway, I'll leave her a solid tip even when she's having a bad day. I can afford it, she needs it, and I'm glad to see her working rather than sitting at home mooching off the taxpayers. Her tips are typically 1/10 what the high-end restaurant tips are. Is that "feeling bad?" I dunno, maybe. Or maybe it's just being kind and a bit charitable.
 
At one of my favorite local places, the wait staff all help cover each other's tables, and they share tips. Service is always excellent. I think it's for two reasons. First, they're a little bit more expensive than the chain places (and the food is better), and I have a feeling that if someone is off their game, they get sent home or something.

I always tip well at real restaurants. If the service is lousy, I don't go there again. I don't tip at mcfood places, that doesn't make any sense to me. I'd be happy if all the chain places were forced to pay 80% of their employees full time wages with health coverage and 401k's. They're a blight on the country. But I'm probably an anomaly...and I do like Arby's from time to time.

Back to the OP - what if you replied "I'll tip you $5 for the water, but only if they let me fly the plane for a while".
 
I'll jump on the bandwagon of being really frustrated by tipping people to do their normal paying jobs.
We tip wait staff at real restaurants because they make 2 bucks an hour plus tips.

The one that bugs me the most is food trucks. You're the owner of your business, set your prices according to the money you want to make. But no, they would rather use cheap prices and then make us all feel super awkward by setting up their ipad with 18% 20% 25% or "other" that required 5 more button presses to leave no tip. Most just hit 18% because they don't want the shame of the guy watching them enter a lower tip. It's ridiculous.

Festival/concert/venue bartenders too. If I'm paying 16 dollars for a tall boy of Bud Light I'm not leaving you a 20% tip for handing it to me out of the ice bucket, kiss my ass.
 
Justin Brady said:
I'll jump on the bandwagon of being really frustrated by tipping people to do their normal paying jobs.
We tip wait staff at real restaurants because they make 2 bucks an hour plus tips.

The one that bugs me the most is food trucks. You're the owner of your business, set your prices according to the money you want to make. But no, they would rather use cheap prices and then make us all feel super awkward by setting up their ipad with 18% 20% 25% or "other" that required 5 more button presses to leave no tip. Most just hit 18% because they don't want the shame of the guy watching them enter a lower tip. It's ridiculous.

Festival/concert/venue bartenders too. If I'm paying 16 dollars for a tall boy of Bud Light I'm not leaving you a 20% tip for handing it to me out of the ice bucket, kiss my ***.
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Food trucks = fast food = no table service. No, I don't tip there.
 
Justin Brady said:
…We tip wait staff at real restaurants because they make 2 bucks an hour plus tips…
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Not everywhere. We have an full service restaurant locally that’s also towards mid to high end of pricing…$$-$$$ range. The owner was having a hard time retaining staff and was on the local news. The lowest paid position in his restaurant makes $14/hr in a $7.35/hr min wage state. All EEs get a 401K, PTO, and employer-sponsored health insurance.

They have a tip selector on the portable payment machine; it defaults to 22% with anything else being custom.

Love their food and atmosphere, but at $50+/person for a drink an entree (no app or dessert). The greeter doesn’t seat, the seater doesn’t take the order and the order taker isn’t the server. Seems labor heavy, but I have a hard time dropping another $11/person (or more) because it’s customary.

We’ve stopped going because the expected cost just doesn’t align with the value. What was a near local place turned out to be a spending status symbol.
 
I tip at standard restaurants. I will tip at other venues occasionally if there is exceptional service like from the line guys or something. I will put a dollar in the tip jar if the girl behind the counter smiles at my joke.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Tipping has gone out of control. I cringe every time when I go to a freaking counter service restaurant and the card machine has the tipping thing on the screen.
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The makers of the card machines are probably not helping either - I'd bet they all default to show those tipping screens.
 
kayoh190 said:
The makers of the card machines are probably not helping either - I'd bet they all default to show those tipping screens.
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Maybe so but I think the staff is in control ultimately. My favorite Dickey’s for example doesn’t hand me the card machine until he goes through the tip screen and puts in 0 himself. So they have a choice and most clearly choose to show you the tip screen expecting a 20% tip.
 
I guess I should have tipped her. Instead she coughed on me and I got COVID for the first time after 3 years

B%#^,
 
Look at the bill closely. I have run into a number of places that is putting in an 18% tip automatically. So if you tip 18% on the tip line, you are giving a 36% tip. OMG
 
I’ve upped my tipping in restaurants since Covid but agree the tipping has gotten out of hand. I just went on a cruise where tipping was included in the fare. It was nice to sign the bill and not see a tip line. I don’t feel guilty at all hitting the no tip button
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Maybe so but I think the staff is in control ultimately.
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Yeah, I bet all that stuff can be turned on and off. But I think it's an easy thing for some Wendy's manager to see it default to on and decide to leave it that way rather it be some conscious push to get people to tip over the counter. I certainly don't feel any guilt over not doing it, so seeing the prompt doesn't bother me.
 
Honestly, we have all but stopped going out for the evening meal anyway. Birthdays only. An occasional lunch is about it.
 
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