Don't tip your coffee before you get the lid on nice and tight. That Dunkin Original is piping hot!

Plane Coffee

 

Tip the driver.....

 

Out I curiousity, who else do you tip besides van drivers? I’m trying to see the line between being cheap and tipping every person who provides a service.

 

I tip my parking van driver if they pick me up at my car as I'm getting out and run out to grab my bags. A tip is to recognize going above and beyond to make my life better. I do not tip the maids for a clean room. Cleaning it is their job. It is not the van driver's job to carry my luggage or follow my car to where I park. It also isn't the hotel van driver's job to bring our keys to the airport so we can skip checking in all together. Waiting for us, loading my bags and bringing me the keys are above and beyond and are rewarded with a monetary incentive.

 

Just trying to engage in the conversation and promote discussion, if unable to, then so be it. Seems like a valid question though.

 

There are unwritten standards in this country. Some employees, such as waiters, actually have a lower-than-normal minimum wage by law on the assumption that they make tips, and the tips might be the preponderance of their income. The IRS will tax them on tips whether you give them one or not.

Aside from that it's discretionary.

In the case of van drivers, the tip is for being on time and handling my bags. The bags are not really their job in most cases.

The valet gets a tip if the car is intact and the hustle.

Barrista gets a tip to incentivize quick service. You should have seen the DAL CA ahead of me line in the coffee shop a few weeks ago... he didn't tip, but did say he was in a hurry. I did tip, and walked out with a tray of drinks for my crew while dude was still fuming.

Maids don't get tips to clean the room after I leave, that's their job and it doesn't matter to me if they're quick or efficient. If I stay multiple days they get a tip if they respected the DnD sign and were generally helpful. Or if I trashed the room (I don't but kids might).

 

It's good if you can tip the van driver but I also understand people at the regionals who can't. When one is paid $35-40k a year and has a family to support, every dollar counts. Now guys at the majors making $100k plus, that's a different story. The van driver probably earns more than some regional first officers anyway but yes do tip if you are able.

 

I tip the van drivers $1. If I'm taking the van and I'm the only one on there, I'll tip $2.

Funny story though last year I had to do a repo flight and park our plane not at the gate but at an FBO on the other side of the field. The FBO told us they can drive our crew back to the terminal. This isn't a hotel shuttle. In the crews eyes, this is the same as a having the mechanic drive you from the hangar to the crew room. So anyways ramper drops us off, unloads our bags, and says goodbye. I (an FO) look around and notices no one is going to tip. I hand the ramper a ten. I used to work at an FBO and I used to fly corporate. I didn't say anything about what I tipped but I thought that since this was an FBO employee I needed to give him the big corporate tip to not seem like a cheepAss.

I thought about it for a bit and wondered if I should have just stuck to my normal dollar tip. After all, if the FBO workers got big tips, why not all of our hotel drivers? That would get really expensive really quick. Yeah a dollar for the van driver should just be the standard.

 

Yep I tip 90-95% of the time unless they are extremely rude or drive like a jerk. Usually only $1, but if they go out of their way to take us somewhere on an overnight I might throw them a few extra.

I always throw all my lose change in my roller bag Incase I run out of dollar bills that way I’m covered.

 

Most regional pilots are making well more than that now.

In any case, when I was at the regionals I saw a lot more CAs who wouldn't tip than anything. It's embarrassing when even the FA who is basically on food stamps tips and the CA making six figures just about pushes the van driver out of the way so he can load and unload his own bag and not tip.