Tipping van drivers
 

We seem to have a growing number of pilots joining the flight attendants in future Sherpa training feeling the need to travel with everything they own. The standard bag tip anywhere in the world is a buck a bag not a buck for 3 or 4 bags. It's one of the reasons we get less then optimal service and timeliness from some drivers. If you have to travel with the kitchen sink and your blowup doll tip appropriately.

This whole "food bag" generation is getting out of hand.

word! I have had a trend of recent trips where some FA's totally skipped the tip..I made sure to make up for it with the driver.

Probably the flight attendants with 4 bags also. Really embarrassed by a Delta flight attendant jumpseating to work on JetBlue the other day. She had 4 decent sized bags trying to carry it all on.

I hope you took appropriate action:

Scoop :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sglyFwTjfDU

Oh! I thought this thread dealt in the same realm as tipping cows. I was wondering how it was going to work. My mistake.

I've seen some Captains tip .50¢ a bag then get surprised when I tip $1 a bag...

I always tip $1/bag. What I never understood was guys tipping on the shuttle to the Training Center when they have no bags. Why that driver, but not the employee bus driver? Or the city bus driver?

Half the time I'm the only one who tips at my shop. It's embarrassing but not surprising in this age of people being raised poorly by parents more interested in money than taking the time to produce well mannered decent human beings. I know I'll get jumped for this but don't really care. The lack of tipping is definitely a generational thing. I see it constantly with my own eyes.

Yup. It's amusing watching the overheads fill up with dead heading crew bags and then watching the chaos unfold as the paying passengers have limited space to put their stuff. And many times that is aft of their seat assignment.

tipping?

when we had tip sheets in the bid package....the S.O.P. was get to destination....capt scrounges around in his pockets.....then looks at the B-scale second officer and says "I don't have any small change, cover the tip and I will pay you back at the end of the rotation"....

hahahahahaha......

Used to be a Tristar captain that never tipped, just took the reimbursement

.....and picked up tips off the restaurant table...:eek:

not having the benefit of a 'safe-space' upbringing, I'm all for responsible spending. that being said.....the drivers who transport us safely are getting economically squeezed like a lot of working people today.

unless its a real goat rope, my personal minimum is a finsky......ten if its an extra effort.....and at least an Andy Jackson on days like xmas and new years.

its in the tax return someplace....but I'm not telling the IRS where..:D

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/51/51728...5af487d4bd.jpg

I would kill for the city bus driver's retirement package.:D

I have had to have a "come to Jesus" talk with a few new hire f/o's that we tip at DAL. They appeared to have alligator arms! Captains should tip more than a buck IMO, F/O's are only required a buck minimum. I guess some people where born in a barn. Come on, you made it to the big leagues.........it's a buck! Amazed!

So riddle me this: how is it that I (millennial new hire fo) often fly with CAs twice and FAs three times my age, yet i am sometimes (not infrequently either!) the only one who cracks open my wallet to fish out a buck or two? For reference, I only ever travel with roll aboard and laptop bag and always keep my laptop bag with me on the van.

Bag#?
I thought people tipped if the van was there on time (or minor waiting).
I put my own bag in if the wait was long.

Jesus?......isn't he that driver in GDL? great guy! :D

There's a certain bunch in SLC that claim it's against their beliefs to tip the gentile outsiders.
Dang embarrassing, food bag draggers too.!

I never put my bags in the cargo bin when I have a positive space deadhead. I've had too many bags damaged when they ride underneath. My handle is broken now for just that reason. I put it underneath on personal travel and it got damaged.

get a Costco bag. then nobody knows its you.:)

WTH? Been here 10 years and never seen anything from anyone in SLC like that. I will say that SLC probably could win the award for highest average number of bags per pilot though.....I'm not sure what some guys have in all their damn bags??

Agreed. A driver has to be pretty far off the mark not to get a tip from me. Also, newsflash crews!: some of the hotel vans run on a set schedule. It ain't the van driver's fault the hotel runs the shuttle every 20 mins and you got there 2 minutes after he left. No reason to get huffy, whine about that southwest crew who stole "your" van and withhold a tip.

Japan has a good policy when it comes to tipping.

You know the difference between a canoe and a delta pilot? A canoe tips!

Sure thing Riddler. I'm just passing along my objective observations. When tips aren't given out most of the time it's youngsters. That's what I've seen and it's a fact. Anymore, most of our younger flight attendants never tip and the older ones maybe do fifty - seventy percent of the time. Why so defensive? If you're tippimg there's no need to defend those that don't.

OMG so true. I'd rather all our per diem be on a separate card that expires if you don't use it. Guys packing a week's worth of PBJ to pay for zero ROI 6 figure Social Justice degrees for their kids is hilarious to watch though.

No crew meals at our shop, and no (or very rare) "airport appreciation" time, so guys bring food. Drives me nuts


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It's not always about cost. Airport food is typically extremely unhealthy.

This could be a dangerous thread.... :)

I agree. The informal "standard" is $1/bag. With that being said, ..

1) The "standard" is also for the van driver to take my bags and place them in the back of the van/car. (This doesn't always happen.) If I have to throw my bags in the back, then the Captain's and F/A bags, I'm not tipping the van driver. (Fact, not fiction.)

2) The "standard" in this great Country (#MAGA) is to leave a tip for someone who has gone above and beyond their normal duties in the line of work. (e.g. You leave a larger tip [20%+] for your server with better customer service.) With that being said, I don't see a minimum requirement to give each van driver a "participation medal" (tip) for doing their job, if the ride felt like an Indy 500 qualification run or I felt like the van ride endangered my life more than my Afghanistan deployment.

And lastly,

3) Sometimes I don't have more than $1 or $2 in my wallet. (Travel with plastic instead of cash.) We all have a choice in life. I don't receive tips from the passengers when I make a nice landing, or avoid a serious line of Thunderstorms. I don't feel bad about missing the $1/bag standard every once in a while either.

I usta carry at least a hundred in "ones" just to make change for the big-buck drinkers. :D

Or the girls trying to work their way through college? Either way, it's all good. :D

Hey easy with that, no way it could be true! :D

I once spotted a Captain, when he "got me back" the next day he only tipped a buck instead of $2. I didn't say anything. He noticed the next day I tipped my usual $1 a bag and he claimed he's never seen a "co pilot" tip more than $1. Ok.... Maybe he uses that trick to make a $1 every trip!

I tip a five every time...try to make up for the poor practice of others....and I second the 20 or more for Christmas and Thanksgiving

had a FA tell me "cops beat, firemen cheat, and pilots are cheap"....:D

That is such a spot-on observation, oh I mean stereotype.

In my recent past here, flying with guys in both seats, I've only witnessed one guy who didn't tip. He was a new hire and when I noticed it, I pulled an extra $1 out and gave it to the driver when he wasn't looking. I didn't want to shame him or anything. Some/most Guys take pay cuts coming over and with a family, things could be really tight at home...no big deal. The next morning he tipped the driver so I think he probably didn't have any singles that night and was too embarrassed to ask me to spot him. Other than that, I can't ever remember a Captain or FO not tip. I did have a Captain last year almost pass out when I gave the driver a $5 because I didn't have singles and the driver was really nice. I didn't feel like asking for change.

Trivia question...do you know what the word TIPS stands for?

TIPS......Hmmm, Target Isipid Pilot Stinginess?

Just don't be like one Delta CA I flew with a while back. He carried a Crowne Royal bag of silver dollars with him. He made a big production out of it, announcing "Now that's not 50 cents, thats TWO DOLLARS. Don't go throwing that in the hotel vending machine. Those are special!" Novel idea? Maybe. But his presentation made him look like a d-bag. It got really old by day 4. He was a nice guy otherwise.