My FA's getted tipped on occasion and they deserve it. We get paid crap, they get paid less than crap. On a daily basis, their job is a lot more difficult. Plus, they'll have to pull my sorry ass out of the plane if I ever screw up that bad.

Checko

 

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.

 

If we were tipped it would just give Mgmt. another thing to hold against us come contract negotiations. "Well we feel its fine to lower your hourly rate because with your tips factored in, you will still make more money than you previously did".

Its never gonna happen for the 121 world. Tips in the 135/91 world occur because Crew's pay alot more attention to detail due to the small amount of pax they carry i.e.. addressing them by their names....loading/unloading their bags...serving their meals.

Another reason is due to the majority of their passengers being upper class. I used to work corporate....most of our passengers would tip everyone they ran into on the way to the airplane. Hell, ill bet even the GM Exec's would throw a couple hundred to their Gulfstream pilots for a "Nice Dinner"

 

And for what reason, to force your company to pay you more??

A lot of people ask pilots why they don't leave and look for other types of careers if the pay is so bad. Do you know what the most common response is? "Beats working in a cubicle" or, "I just love to fly". As long as that attitude exists in the industry do not expect wages to come up any time soon.

For every one person who leaves the industry due to low wages, I'm willing to bet there are at least 100 who will gladly take his/her place for the same or lower wages.

 

Very well said my friend.

 

When's the last time those people qualified for food stamps?

 

[quote=willflyforfood;525897]If we Screw Up Everybody Dies!!! Read this Article

Reservoir Dogs - "Tip Worthy Jobs." Great discussion about tipping - caution profanity.

YouTube - Reservoir Dogs - Tipping Scene

Scoop

 

Because then you would complain we get treated like waitresses....

 

Professional careers take time and experience to make good money. Doctors aren't making very good money for the first few years out of medical school.

 

Should we also tip doctors and nurses?