Originally Posted by Pontius Pilot

We don't get tips because we're professionals and highly skilled - and professionals rarely work on a tip basis. When was the last time you tipped your doctor for lancing a cyst on your back? Would you tip the funeral director because he made grandma look extra good in her casket? Hand Yo-Yo Ma $15 for a good Cello solo. Give your Professor a tip because you did well in a class? How about we all hand $10 to Peyton Manning on the way out of the stadium for a really good connection? Its just not how its done.

I would not accept a tip as an airline pilot ever. It would cheapen the profession even more. Professionals should not accept tips.

Taxi drivers, wait staff and (I now open the portal to 'flaming' hell with this one) even flight attendants are unskilled laborers. They require little specialized training to do what they do. Tips acceptable in that case. Not for highly skilled professionals.

What needs to be done is address the poor pay. Not stick out your hand like a beggar.

If you need to feel that you're getting tipped, then consider performance bonuses your 'tip' for operating safely and effectively. That should fill the void. Secondly, if you don't get the people there safely - you don't get there safely either and that would obviate the need for a tip. It would also be extortion, which is bad.