flyvne1971

If I am on a bus that has 15 people on it and 10 people tip for the 15 minute drive then I will not tip. (He is well on his way to making twice as much as me on tips alone with 4 trips in an hour. Dude makes enough money) But if very few people tip then I will be sure to give him a buck. Small hotels I always tip.

And I am cheap. Cheap enough to eat ham sandwiches for four days and never go out. Cheap enough to have been on food stamps. Cheap enough to have to use a credit card to buy groceries some times. Thank God I get free internet from next door. Public transportation to work. But I am always sure that the van driver that does not get many tips gets a dollar from me.

Not complaining about the regional pay so lets not go there. It is crappy pay that we all must go through to get where we want and do what we love. If it were all about the money, then I would be driving that airport hotel bus.

dontsurf

i can't think of how this is appropriate for anyone. i would assume you get per diem (and that doesn't matter, really...it just matters that you're eligible for per diem). because the deduction you'd already be taking off of the gsa numbers for per diem allowances include tips. there's no legitimate reason to deduct tips separately unless you're just not taking advantage of the real money to be had in deducting the difference between your per diem and the gsa numbers.

Lab Rat

I guess we just see it differently. My concern isn't with how much or how little he makes, it is just me willing to tip for the services rendered. For all I know this could be the guy's other job he's working in an effort to provide more for his family, pay off debt, etc. Regardless, I don't want to be the person who decides how much is enough. I'm a capitalist and I encourage everyone to earn the most they can - provided it is done legally and ethically.

There is a difference between being cheap and being fiscally responsible. I wouldn't call your eating ham sandwiches cheap, nor would I call depending on food stamps cheap either. Those are conditions necessitated by a particular condition - i.e., being broke or being a good manager of your available finances.

I see the premise of the conversation as this: two people perform a similar task and the tips are conditional upon a perceived notion of how much they are or are not making.

Been there (not a regional, but comparable dues paying outfit), done it and still have the cheap tee-shirt.

One recommendation: Dave Ramsey's "Complete Money Makeover."

BigBallzMagee

You don't have to be 53 to be down on your luck, working crappy hours for **** poor wages just trying to make a living.....You could just be a first year FO at a regional who at almost 30 has 4 other roomates to afford rent.....Throw me your dollar. Easy to say throw those dollars when your at your level of the game. So tip an extra buck for me and when I get into a seat like yours I'll return the favor for some other struggling FO.

Boomer

If we tip the van driver who touches our bag, shall we also tip the TSA agent who touches our bag? Many of them are down-on-their-luck guys too.

I'll haul the FA's bag up the airstairs several times during a trip, especially if we have several aircraft changes in a day. How much of a tip should I expect for that service?

cpatterson19

And I thought only me and my crews debated this topic. I over heard a driver one night braging that he made about $1100 in tips alone for the day working his 12 hour shift. I was in disbelief until he pulled out his wad of cash and was tallying up at the counter (unprofessional). Well ofcourse he didnt get a tip from me when he took me back to the airport.

Tip out of generosity is my thing. If I have I give if I dont have bust luck. I just feel bad when everyone else does and I don't. hurts the ego but so what.

One pilot here says he's cheap. Hey, BE CHEAP cause at the end of the day we aint getting tips but we giving them not to mention some of us cant afford to tip when we are paying rent cell phone bills and not to mention student loans. I get my tips tallied for the year by flica.

EmbraerFlyer

I agree with you. We provide the same service to our passengers. We dont get tipped. I use to overnight a lot in RNO and at this hotel there were crews from Horizon, Southwest, American. In the morning there would be 3 SWA crews, 1 American Crew, and 1 Horizon crew. This was one of those big vans with about 20 crew members. The van drive was a good 5 minutes. I asked myself what was wrong with this pictures. If this guy did 4 trips per hour with crews and other hotel guest, then he's making $80 per hour in tip in addition to other hotel duties. It will take me 7 years to see that at most regionals.

Slice

Sounds like you need to get a job at that hotel then...

kalyx522

I only tip if they actually load/unload the bags (which is most of the time.) Like someone else said, tips are part of these guys' wages. Probably not to a big extent like servers, but similar. I bet the same guys who don't tip van drivers tip poorly at restaurants too. Servers get paid like $2/hr. If you don't tip them, they are not getting paid to serve you. Some customers think that it's not their job to "subsidize" the server's pay... but when you are eating out, you are agreeing to pay for being served... are you not? If you say, "I can't afford to tip." well then you can't afford to eat out. Tips should be considered the cost of eating out, that is just the way it is. Sorry for going off on a tangent. I just really don't like it when I'm on an overnight (although overnights are thing of the past for me) and between the 3 of us (ca, fa, me) I'm the only one who tips. There is a difference between being frugal (good) and cheap (bad)... not tipping service workers is cheap, period.

utedrummer

I dont tip. Would like to but simply cant. Its not my job to feed his family, its my job to feed my family.
If I worked somewhere like NetJets where tips are reimbursed by the company and you are expected to give 5 bucks a tip then I would happily give the guy a tip.
Logistically and responsibly I cannot justify tipping (ok, I will tip a van driver for running me to the store or to a restaurant, but and to/from the airport...thats what he gets paid to do.)