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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:20 AM
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Default Why Don't we get Tips???

If we Screw Up Everybody Dies!!! Read this Article

StraightForward Media Blog Blog Archive Don’t forget to tip your airline pilot!
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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:31 AM
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I understand the point of that blog post and you starting this thread is to emphasize regional airline pilots are underpaid (you're preaching to the APC choir in that regard), but you don't get tips as an airline pilot because safely flying the airplane IS YOUR JOB.
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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:33 AM
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Originally Posted by BoilerUP
I understand the point of that blog post and you starting this thread is to emphasize regional airline pilots are underpaid (you're preaching to the APC choir in that regard), but you don't get tips as an airline pilot because safely flying the airplane IS YOUR JOB.
Agreed, but we tip taxi drivers and restaurant servers to do their jobs too.
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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:37 AM
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In the charter world I have gotten a tip or two....
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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:40 AM
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Originally Posted by NightIP
Agreed, but we tip taxi drivers and restaurant servers to do their jobs too.
As bad as salaries have gotten over the years, I think we make more than taxi drivers and waiters. Well, at least most taxi drivers and waiters.
Plus those are not salaried positions, tips are a large percentage to certain hourly-compensated workers in most "service" jobs.

Thirdly, even if it was customary to tips flight crews I wouldn't start lighting cigars with $100 bills since most people on average don't tip well. I've waited for a few years and I'd say in average tips were 10%-12%, but then again I wasn't a very good waiter. Apparently bad people skills and being a pilot go hand in hand.
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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:57 AM
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Originally Posted by DeadHead
As bad as salaries have gotten over the years, I think we make more than taxi drivers and waiters. Well, at least most taxi drivers and waiters.
Plus those are not salaried positions, tips are a large percentage to certain hourly-compensated workers in most "service" jobs.

Thirdly, even if it was customary to tips flight crews I wouldn't start lighting cigars with $100 bills since most people on average don't tip well. I've waited for a few years and I'd say in average tips were 10%-12%, but then again I wasn't a very good waiter. Apparently bad people skills and being a pilot go hand in hand.
I hear that. I waited tables at three restaurants throughout my tenure in the food service industry.

Actually, what's sad is that with my new job I'm finally making more as a pilot than I did as a server. At one restaurant in the LA area I was making $30k/year or so to work 25 hours per week. Sad.
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Old 12-27-2008 | 05:58 AM
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Originally Posted by willflyforfood
Great article, I think it would be nice to get a few tips for a job well done considering what the pay rates are. I am sick of people always thinking that I am making a fat salary. The public is not aware of the sacrifces we make to do our job and it's sad we are not compensated for it by our industry. I know we are all aware of that so I will just say that it would be nice to get a fin(5) in the jar. Meow!
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Old 12-27-2008 | 06:02 AM
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Default Did you read the link?

The article brings up that there's a regional pilot who makes $31K, and that's surprisingly low. Of course, we all aren't surprised. What is surprising is the comments made on the article:

Hopefully Bridget is a pilot for UPS or FedEx and risks only the lives of her co-pilots — and possibly a few ground casualties — on each flight.
I bet Bridget wishes she was a Fed Ex or UPS pilot too.

As a pilot myself, I find it amusing how everyone thinks we make big bucks. People always figure we have hundreds of lives in our hands, both in air and on the ground, but that isn’t true. Airline planes have auto-pilot, so the people in the cockpit are really just there to make the passengers feel better. The big jets can fly without pilots, but who would get on a plane being operated by some guy in a dark control room at an undisclosed ground location? Of course, the salary of pilots isn’t so bad when you consider the benfits they get. All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job.
When you get a V1 cut, you're on your own - this gal will be watching the autopilot handle it while thinking about her great benefits.
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Old 12-27-2008 | 09:10 AM
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Originally Posted by willflyforfood
Tell the passengers to keep their money and write a letter to congress expressing their outrage at wage concessions and pension cuts.

Last edited by flyifrvfr; 12-27-2008 at 09:19 AM.
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Old 12-27-2008 | 09:30 AM
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Well if every one on a flight was to tip 10% of their ticket cost the math goes like this.

Based on a cheap ticket of $150
10%=15 bucks per passenger
$15 x 100 people on the flight= $1500
$1500 x 3 legs= $4500
$4500 / 2 pilots= $2250
$2250 x 3 day trip=$6750
$6750 x 4 trips a month= $27,000 a month
$27,000 x 12 months= $324,000 a year.

Not bad. Start tipping.
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