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Gifting/tipping flight staff

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Backagain1, Jul 28, 2014.

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  1. Backagain1

    Backagain1 High-Roller

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  2. scohitch

    scohitch Low-Roller

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    Currently, I don't, but this is making me think about it. I have seen it done but I thought it was from one flight attendant, with the same airline, boarding as a passenger, to another flight attendant. A professional courtesy, if you will. I see no harm in bring sweets but I don't think they can accept cash. That's an assumption but I think cash would be difficult. How much is enough vs looking cheap? If I'm the only passenger and give them $20 each, how will that be viewed? I'm overthinking it, I know but the treats just seem easier.

    And in thinking about it, when bringing homemade sweets, you can't necessarily guarantee that they were made in a peanut, etc, free environment. With so many allergies, all you need is one attendant getting sick and turning the plane around. Stay away from homemade...
     
  3. Backagain1

    Backagain1 High-Roller

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    I have been thinking about it as well. I am reading about it and some say yes and others say no, I have learned that food should be sealed and store bought. But also there is mention of Starbucks cards.
    I know the crew works hard so I think it would be a nice gesture.
     
  4. da1chifan

    da1chifan High-Roller

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    If someone would go as far to spend $30-50 for gifts for the 3-5 FAs (on a domestic flight) one way, why not also include the First Officer who is a new hire, making $30k, has $200k in student loan debt, and is flying on his kid's 5th birthday because he isn't senior enough to get that particular day off?

    Maybe if I intended to be a complete pain in the ass on the flight, I would bring gifts. I think what FAs would really like is for people to sit down, be polite, and act like civilized human beings. Sad that many don't...
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2014
  5. Backagain1

    Backagain1 High-Roller

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    Makes sense, I am very civilized but do see the stuff the attendants have to put up with. On a recent flight home there were 3 people sitting in one seat and 3 people 2 rows down, all flying together. These group of six ladies were horrible. They were throwing their snacks over the heads of the other passengers to get to one another, For example, hey... here are the Oreos, ready - and there they went flying over the passengers heads.
    I could not believe it.
     
  6. scohitch

    scohitch Low-Roller

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    Well, its a service industry and people tip for everything nowadays - local coffee shop, local sub shop, local Mcds, etc. Doesn't have to be a large gift card...five bucks each would do. It's the thought that counts. I'm not doing it to get better service, I'd be doing it be a nice person and pay it forward.
     
  7. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    I never gift/tip the flight attendants and pilots unless I'm traveling during a major holiday. I usually get a box or case of high-end chocolates for the crew to share.
     
  8. Snidely

    Snidely VIP Whale

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    My thoughts on this are that you don't tip professionals. Flight attendants are not cocktail waiters/waitresses in the sky; they are highly trained professionals. Exception to this is if you fly a lot and know the crew personally. Then, you can get them a little something.
     
  9. Suekel

    Suekel VIP Whale

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    I normally attempt to tip the FA for drink service and have about a 50/50 rate of acceptance. If they decline, I don't push the issue and try to be gracious about it.

    Last year we were flying the week before Christmas and I bought some packages of 8 Ferrero Rocher chocolates (all sealed). I gave one pack to the FA before take off, and told her I imagine this is a stressful time of year for them and I hoped this small treat would make the crew's day a little nicer. She was very appreciative, and ended up not charging us for any of our drinks during the flight.

    The other packs went to check in clerk and housekeeping (along with, not instead of, a tip).
     
  10. Breeze147

    Breeze147 Button Man

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    No, not only no, but hell no. I would sooner tip the Guatemalan kid who puts the neat straight edges with a weed whacker on the community lawn. Or the teenage girl who keeps a straight face when I buy a pack of condoms. Or the Indian guy who makes no comment when I buy a pack of rolling papers.
     
  11. merlin

    merlin MIA

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    I cant imagine a circumstance where I would even consider a tip to a flight attendant, they're just doing their job, they're professionals, and bottom line is they're not to be pitied. What's next, tipping the TSA guy if he doesn't make me pull my pants down?
     
  12. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    Agree completely. I definitely would never give cash or gift cards under any circumstance. Honestly I think it is kind of tacky and insulting to give cash to someone like that. I might, and I think I have in the past, given something little like chocolates or treats I picked up on that trip. But even then I think it would only be on long haul international flights where the FAs actually do a lot of work including making your bed if you have one and sometimes you chat with them a lot in the galley and things like that.
     
  13. bignig135

    bignig135 Low-Roller

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    Coming from the UK, I find it amazing that anyone would contemplate giving FA's tips of any type unless in extremely extraordinary circumstances, say a crew member saving your life via CPR ! Especially to hand over a tip/ bribe before take off smacks of trying to see what freebies you can achieve during the flight!

    While a few donors are doubtless doing so with the best of intentions, the rest are displaying condescension, a touch of freeloading and dubious morals and thought processes. Do you tip a FA but then grimace with disgust at a charity collector? No-one tips a waiter/waitress in advance in the hope of good service. Where does it all end? Also, if you take the term service provider to the nth degree, I worked for Social Security and provided a service to unemployed people, my wife is a nurse and provides many services for her patients, several being very unpleasant!

    I have often joked that in Vegas someone only has to gaze in your general direction and they expect a tip, but seriously in this politically correct world, are we all going mad in desperate attempts to prove how nice we all are!?
     
  14. saintpauljeff

    saintpauljeff VIP Whale

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    Sometimes all these tipping threads make me think of Steve Martin's Vinnie Antonelli in "My Blue Heaven"

    It's not tipping I believe in. It's overtipping.

    In fact, in the movie, he secretly tips a flight attendant
     
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