I'm just curious if anyone has ever tipped a flight attendant?
BKMD--I've never tipped a flight attendant in monetary terms; however, I travel quite a bit for work and many times, on the international routes I fly frequently, me and my colleagues have brought pizza and other snack goodies on board for the flight crew. It has always been well received.
My situation was a bit different as the Captain. But, if I had a good crew I would buy the first round of beverages on a ‘legal’ layover. When we flew on a holiday I would always buy the crew dinner. When I was at “World Airways” … my first airline … World bought the holiday dinners. I just adopted that tradition.
I was once on a Southwest flight out of Reno and it was delayed due the flight crew being short-staffed. They had to wait for another SW flight to arrive (about 3 hours) and find a flight attendant who wasn't over hours. In the meantime, the captain bought pizza for the entire plane.
We do a lot more than make annoying PA announcements. (;-)
P.S. Just remembered something that happened occasionally that was a bit humorous. Hotel bellman sometimes where more stripes than airline pilots. I was more than once asked in a hotel lobby to carry someone’s bags to a car … the first time I was insulted and pointed out that I was an ‘airline Captain’ not a bellman. After it happened two or three times, I just carried the bags and accepted the tip. That was easier, and no one got embarrassed. (;-)
Sealord, that is hilarious. I bet you have amazing stories to tell. The funniest thing that happened to me when I was seated in a plane, obviously as a passenger, is when I was wearing a navy blue blazer with gold stripes on the sleeves, shoulder pads (when they were in style) and gold buttoned epaulets on the shoulders. I even had a toddler next to me. Someone mistook me as a pilot and literally asked if I wanted to sit in to cockpit. For real! This was in the year 2000 and we were going on a Panama Canal cruise.
Another moment comes to mind was when my husband and I were attending an art auction on one of the very big cruise ships and I was notoriously taking notes sitting in the front row. I like to keep busy. The auctioneers thought I was their competition or something of the sort. I explained that I was just writing postcards to be mailed at the next port. The strangest things can happen on a trip.
On our recent tour, several people kept mistaking my husband for the Tour director they were the same height, build and skin coloring and wore the same color baseball hat. One woman did it repeatedly. I joked that maybe he would get some of the tips, but no one handed him an envelope.
At our better hotels I would get five bucks for putting a couple bags in the car. That, of course, was not the Milford Plaza (Mildew Plaza) in New York. (;-). I actually stayed at better hotels with World Airways than American. The Palace Hotel in Madrid where we will stay on a Tauck tour was the Madrid hotel for World Airways. The only ‘AA’ hotels I really liked were the Parker House in Boston, and the Sheraton in Buenos Aires.
Comments
I'm confident a heated debate will start shortly!
Yes, here we go, google is your friend!
https://everydayaviation.com/do-you-tip-flight-attendants/
BKMD--I've never tipped a flight attendant in monetary terms; however, I travel quite a bit for work and many times, on the international routes I fly frequently, me and my colleagues have brought pizza and other snack goodies on board for the flight crew. It has always been well received.
My situation was a bit different as the Captain. But, if I had a good crew I would buy the first round of beverages on a ‘legal’ layover. When we flew on a holiday I would always buy the crew dinner. When I was at “World Airways” … my first airline … World bought the holiday dinners. I just adopted that tradition.
I was once on a Southwest flight out of Reno and it was delayed due the flight crew being short-staffed. They had to wait for another SW flight to arrive (about 3 hours) and find a flight attendant who wasn't over hours. In the meantime, the captain bought pizza for the entire plane.
We do a lot more than make annoying PA announcements. (;-)
P.S. Just remembered something that happened occasionally that was a bit humorous. Hotel bellman sometimes where more stripes than airline pilots. I was more than once asked in a hotel lobby to carry someone’s bags to a car … the first time I was insulted and pointed out that I was an ‘airline Captain’ not a bellman. After it happened two or three times, I just carried the bags and accepted the tip. That was easier, and no one got embarrassed. (;-)
Sealord, that is hilarious. I bet you have amazing stories to tell. The funniest thing that happened to me when I was seated in a plane, obviously as a passenger, is when I was wearing a navy blue blazer with gold stripes on the sleeves, shoulder pads (when they were in style) and gold buttoned epaulets on the shoulders. I even had a toddler next to me. Someone mistook me as a pilot and literally asked if I wanted to sit in to cockpit. For real! This was in the year 2000 and we were going on a Panama Canal cruise.
Another moment comes to mind was when my husband and I were attending an art auction on one of the very big cruise ships and I was notoriously taking notes sitting in the front row. I like to keep busy. The auctioneers thought I was their competition or something of the sort. I explained that I was just writing postcards to be mailed at the next port. The strangest things can happen on a trip.
On our recent tour, several people kept mistaking my husband for the Tour director they were the same height, build and skin coloring and wore the same color baseball hat. One woman did it repeatedly. I joked that maybe he would get some of the tips, but no one handed him an envelope.
Aha, Sealord, so that's how you've been funding all your Tauck Exotics!
At our better hotels I would get five bucks for putting a couple bags in the car. That, of course, was not the Milford Plaza (Mildew Plaza) in New York. (;-). I actually stayed at better hotels with World Airways than American. The Palace Hotel in Madrid where we will stay on a Tauck tour was the Madrid hotel for World Airways. The only ‘AA’ hotels I really liked were the Parker House in Boston, and the Sheraton in Buenos Aires.