I have to ask the masses. Is it just me or has tipping in the 135 world dried up in the last year? Frequently we pick up pax that are littering everyone but us pilots with tips. I don't get it. A couple of years ago it seemed you could almost count on them and suddenly its as if a switch was flipped.

If you want tips, not to sound provocative, be a waiter. If you want to be a professional and receive pay accordingly then demand it and you won't have to worry about tips. Not that this applies to you, but I never understood the need for tips as a pilot.

One 135 company that I worked for would suggest the "tip" on the invoice but the money (amazingly) never made it to the crew.

Like night and day! Two years ago it was every other customer tipping me and this year it was nothing! The funny thing is I'm so much better at my job then last year....maybe I was getting tips out of pity...lol

I was a one man show flying air taxi. Catering, luggage, PIC , concierge, making sure their car was on the ramp waiting etc...I never expected a tip but it was nice when someone noticed I was sweating bullets and running around on the ramp at landmark kteb like a maniac. The pace was exhausting but fun too

My favorite is when i am handling all the pax luggage while line guy stands there with his hands in his pocket and then gets the tip. And yes, i have noticed a big decrease in crew tips, $100 for each crew member used to be the norm. This used to help subsidize with the crappy 135 pay.

I saw the same thing many times during my 135 days at DPJ. The passenger would tip the limo driver $100 for driving them across town and nothing for us, barely a Thank you, after we flew them across the country in the middle of the night, handled their bags,catering, etc.

BayBum

I know of one very large broker that asks the client if they would like to tip the pilots, and the money never gets to the pilots. If that payment is documented somewhere, I think every pilot should get a very large settlement check from them.

Yes. This does happen.

Does it rhyme with SENTIENT?

Just a wild guess...