Originally Posted by Baradium

At my former airline, probably 3/4 of the captains I flew with didn't tip. They would either shove themselves past the driver to move their bag or make an excuse about "I'll make up for it next time" even though the driver had seen them three times already that month. They also wondered why the van drivers were rarely if ever sitting there waiting for us or otherwise prompt to pick us up.

For those of you who say "if I happen to have cash" you should be ashamed of yourselves. If you don't care to tip, then don't... but don't make some excuse about how you don't have cash when you intentionally make sure not to.

For the rest of you looking for excuses, tips are expected and the drivers notice when certain airlines crews don't tip. When I started at my current airline on day one of indoc they made a point of saying that tipping van drivers is not considered optional and that if we want to say we are making some broader societal point about tipping to do it on our own time, not while representing the company, and more importantly when it isn't affecting how they look at our crews.

The only reason I carried cash when flying RJs was hotel van tips and I still do for the same reason. Yes the drivers notice when you don't tip, and if they see a pattern from a company yes it affects what kind of service you get. In the old days the van drivers were in many cases making more than RJ pilots (although that wasn't their fault), now they are almost assuredly making less than you.



The thing is, people like you who don't tip affect everyone else... although the people who don't tip aren't likely to care about that.



Tips for things like your van driver are expected to be part of your per diem, which is why it is not taxed. So no, it's not something you don't get reimbursed for, you just get the money whether you tip or not.

You are all going to do your own thing anyway, but don't fool yourselves into thinking that anyone else sees you as anything other than cheap and stingy. Regardless of what broader points you think you are making that is how both the drivers and your fellow crew members see you.