7 ms·

I Was Asked for a Tip From a Flight Attendant

19 points by pgrote 8y ago

notus 8y ago
This is comparable to when you go to a place where you pay before you eat and there is a tip field on the receipt. You simply do not fill it out if you don't want to tip. This is a non-issue. You are perfectly capable of declining to tip someone.
kozikow 8y ago
I think some of situations like that are simply caused by standardized POS systems being used. Some greed was probably involved as well, but I've a few similar situations, where tip was asked in non-tippy scenarios after business adapted new POS system.
- dahdum 8y ago
  Frontier confirmed it’s a policy change, it’s intentional.
dahdum 8y ago
Over the years there has been a push to make the public realize the importance of the flight attendant role, that they aren’t there to serve drinks but to ensure your safety. “Here to save your ass, not kiss it” is one way I’ve heard it put by a FA. Frontier is a doing a bang up job of reversing that trend with this.
- throwawaymath 8y ago
  I don't feel my safety is assured when I'm asked to stow my laptop during takeoff. I mostly feel annoyed. Likewise when I have to find a place to stow the bag at my feet simply because I'm in a row without any seats in front of me. In my opinion, the "safety" provided by flight attendants is rather dramatically overstated. But I'm happy to be told differently; please educate me if you believe the attendants meaningfully increase the safety of the modal passenger's flight. In any case, I'm absolutely never going to tip a flight attendant. What a regressive policy.
  - ddingus 8y ago
    The laptop has enough mass to be a seriously harmful object when unplanned motion happens. This is most likely to happen during take off and or landing. Same thing goes for your bag. Technically, in the seats where there are no rows in front, your bag should be in the overhead bin, right along with your laptop, until the aircraft leaves the take off part of it's flight plan. Prior to entering the landing part of the flight plan, both items need to be in the bin, and for the same reasons. I'm kind of surprised it can just be at your feet in those seats. I never pick them for these reasons. Having to get up, deal with the bin, etc... isn't something I feel like doing personally. A lot of this basic stuff is the result of simulations and other accumulated flight / empirical data, and the intent is to maximize everyone's safety during high risk flight times. This is also why trays up, seats not reclined are also required during those two known high risk flight times. https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/cabin_safety/media/CabinSafetyIndex.pdf https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/cabin_safety/media/Cab... There is the long form word on all this. Links to the appropriate Federal law are just a click away. Frankly, the flight attendants are required to do what they do, and you as a passenger are required by Federal law to comply with their directives. I'm not entirely sure you are presenting as a model passenger, however your perception of increased safety and it's overall value, like everyone's, can and will vary considerably. No worries on any of that. The authority on those things has already made the calls, and in general, those are made to maximize safety as much as can be done.
    - dahdum 8y ago
      Well put. The flight attendants are there to enforce FAA rules and assist in times of emergency. We are always free to lobby the FAA to relax flight rules, allowing small devices during takeoff is the largest change I can remember.
      - ddingus 8y ago
        Exactly. Imho, it is all quite conservative. I do not blame them. Pretty heavy and visible responsibility. I am happy to play along, safe as can be managed given current tech and our understanding. That gets better over time. Once, I got caught with no seat belt in my car. Had kids, and one of then was a mess. I unclicked to reach and deal. Small town cop was on buckle up campaign and I took the seat belt school option. Was only a minute too. Bad timing, but it turned out to be good fortune. Best class ever! No joke. I, like many, expected a dull, threatening lecture. That did not happen. They brought a trauma nurse in who talked safety from their point of view. A laptop is a pretty dangerous thing when accellerated. And that guy was just great! Most people do not properly constrain objects in cars. I had no idea why and how. That nurse told us the facts, showed us the gore and blood. (Of course, this was diversion after all), but then went through the physics and some math. (Didn't have to, but I am glad they did) They also went through trauma stats and trauma is the big killer. People are just fragile to a degree we often forget, or are just not aware of. All in all, I learned a lot! And the FAA rules make perfect sense, given the rough scenario they must manage. A flying laptop was one of the scenarios the trauma nurse did physics on in a 60 mph crash. It was not pretty. Meat and bone are gonna be impacted. Oh, and I get it. I too am bothered. I just happend to have gotten that great education. It is an understandable bother, and we all do have options. If it were me, I would have those trauma people do sessions in every high school. A lot of those kids would be moved. There were a ton in my session. I was one of the older adult minority... I thanked the nurse afterwards. He said, "first, you should know better, and then thanks. Glad it helped." He went on to say doing those was one of his favorite things to do. Trauma people do not get to share much, and what they can share is powerful. Life saving. I really did benefit and think about all this very differently. Let me say being bothered is a very nice problem to have.
bdamm 8y ago
Flight attendants should totally have a tip jar on the way out. I try my hardest to message the company and state why any particular flight attendant was particularly exceptional but it would be nice to have an easier way to say thank you.
- mpeg 8y ago
  BA has "golden tickets" they give to the top tier rewards customers, which you can then hand to any member of BA staff that has made a positive impact for you. They don't get cash for it, but I understand it goes in their file. Ironically, I had my golden tickets go unused as most BA staff I've flown with have been average at best for the past few years, even when sitting in business / first.
- bdamm 8y ago
  -4 downvotes? Goodness. Those flight attendants put up with a lot of cr*p sometimes.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
m0zg 8y ago
Wait till they start asking for tips for pilots as a percentage of your airfare. And charge them up front. No tips? An extra turbulent, puke-your-guts-out flight for you!
imgabe 8y ago
Well, I wasn't going to fly Frontier anyway, but now I'm putting them with United in the "actively avoid" bucket. What bullshit. We need less tipping, not more. Employers: it is YOUR job to pay your employees an acceptable wage, not mine. If you need to provide some monetary incentive for employees to do their job (beyond their salary), then use commissions, not tips.
- hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
  It is Frontier after all. I'm pretty surprised they haven't installed coin operated toilets yet.
nightski 8y ago
If you are willing to spend $2.99 on a can of soda do you really need to complain about a $0.50 tip which you don't even need to give?
ddingus 8y ago
They can ask. I'm in the "you don't get, unless you ask" camp, and am fine with asking. Doesn't mean they will get it.
daly 8y ago
Umm, I usually give my flight attendants a $20 tip each. These people have been paying attention to my health, safety, and comfort needs for the last 6 hours. They are always pleasant and friendly. My tip will buy them dinner. I used bring them candy but someone pointed out that they could not eat it during flight because it might be tainted. Sigh.

19 points by pgrote 8y ago

This is comparable to when you go to a place where you pay before you eat and there is a tip field on the receipt. You simply do not fill it out if you don't want to tip. This is a non-issue. You are perfectly capable of declining to tip someone.

kozikow 8y ago

I think some of situations like that are simply caused by standardized POS systems being used. Some greed was probably involved as well, but I've a few similar situations, where tip was asked in non-tippy scenarios after business adapted new POS system.

dahdum 8y ago
Frontier confirmed it’s a policy change, it’s intentional.

dahdum 8y ago

Over the years there has been a push to make the public realize the importance of the flight attendant role, that they aren’t there to serve drinks but to ensure your safety. “Here to save your ass, not kiss it” is one way I’ve heard it put by a FA. Frontier is a doing a bang up job of reversing that trend with this.

throwawaymath 8y ago
I don't feel my safety is assured when I'm asked to stow my laptop during takeoff. I mostly feel annoyed. Likewise when I have to find a place to stow the bag at my feet simply because I'm in a row without any seats in front of me. In my opinion, the "safety" provided by flight attendants is rather dramatically overstated. But I'm happy to be told differently; please educate me if you believe the attendants meaningfully increase the safety of the modal passenger's flight. In any case, I'm absolutely never going to tip a flight attendant. What a regressive policy.
- ddingus 8y ago
  The laptop has enough mass to be a seriously harmful object when unplanned motion happens. This is most likely to happen during take off and or landing. Same thing goes for your bag. Technically, in the seats where there are no rows in front, your bag should be in the overhead bin, right along with your laptop, until the aircraft leaves the take off part of it's flight plan. Prior to entering the landing part of the flight plan, both items need to be in the bin, and for the same reasons. I'm kind of surprised it can just be at your feet in those seats. I never pick them for these reasons. Having to get up, deal with the bin, etc... isn't something I feel like doing personally. A lot of this basic stuff is the result of simulations and other accumulated flight / empirical data, and the intent is to maximize everyone's safety during high risk flight times. This is also why trays up, seats not reclined are also required during those two known high risk flight times. https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/cabin_safety/media/CabinSafetyIndex.pdf https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/cabin_safety/media/Cab... There is the long form word on all this. Links to the appropriate Federal law are just a click away. Frankly, the flight attendants are required to do what they do, and you as a passenger are required by Federal law to comply with their directives. I'm not entirely sure you are presenting as a model passenger, however your perception of increased safety and it's overall value, like everyone's, can and will vary considerably. No worries on any of that. The authority on those things has already made the calls, and in general, those are made to maximize safety as much as can be done.
  - dahdum 8y ago
    Well put. The flight attendants are there to enforce FAA rules and assist in times of emergency. We are always free to lobby the FAA to relax flight rules, allowing small devices during takeoff is the largest change I can remember.
    - ddingus 8y ago
      Exactly. Imho, it is all quite conservative. I do not blame them. Pretty heavy and visible responsibility. I am happy to play along, safe as can be managed given current tech and our understanding. That gets better over time. Once, I got caught with no seat belt in my car. Had kids, and one of then was a mess. I unclicked to reach and deal. Small town cop was on buckle up campaign and I took the seat belt school option. Was only a minute too. Bad timing, but it turned out to be good fortune. Best class ever! No joke. I, like many, expected a dull, threatening lecture. That did not happen. They brought a trauma nurse in who talked safety from their point of view. A laptop is a pretty dangerous thing when accellerated. And that guy was just great! Most people do not properly constrain objects in cars. I had no idea why and how. That nurse told us the facts, showed us the gore and blood. (Of course, this was diversion after all), but then went through the physics and some math. (Didn't have to, but I am glad they did) They also went through trauma stats and trauma is the big killer. People are just fragile to a degree we often forget, or are just not aware of. All in all, I learned a lot! And the FAA rules make perfect sense, given the rough scenario they must manage. A flying laptop was one of the scenarios the trauma nurse did physics on in a 60 mph crash. It was not pretty. Meat and bone are gonna be impacted. Oh, and I get it. I too am bothered. I just happend to have gotten that great education. It is an understandable bother, and we all do have options. If it were me, I would have those trauma people do sessions in every high school. A lot of those kids would be moved. There were a ton in my session. I was one of the older adult minority... I thanked the nurse afterwards. He said, "first, you should know better, and then thanks. Glad it helped." He went on to say doing those was one of his favorite things to do. Trauma people do not get to share much, and what they can share is powerful. Life saving. I really did benefit and think about all this very differently. Let me say being bothered is a very nice problem to have.

bdamm 8y ago

Flight attendants should totally have a tip jar on the way out. I try my hardest to message the company and state why any particular flight attendant was particularly exceptional but it would be nice to have an easier way to say thank you.

mpeg 8y ago
BA has "golden tickets" they give to the top tier rewards customers, which you can then hand to any member of BA staff that has made a positive impact for you. They don't get cash for it, but I understand it goes in their file. Ironically, I had my golden tickets go unused as most BA staff I've flown with have been average at best for the past few years, even when sitting in business / first.
bdamm 8y ago
-4 downvotes? Goodness. Those flight attendants put up with a lot of cr*p sometimes.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

m0zg 8y ago

Wait till they start asking for tips for pilots as a percentage of your airfare. And charge them up front. No tips? An extra turbulent, puke-your-guts-out flight for you!

imgabe 8y ago

Well, I wasn't going to fly Frontier anyway, but now I'm putting them with United in the "actively avoid" bucket. What bullshit. We need less tipping, not more. Employers: it is YOUR job to pay your employees an acceptable wage, not mine. If you need to provide some monetary incentive for employees to do their job (beyond their salary), then use commissions, not tips.

hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
It is Frontier after all. I'm pretty surprised they haven't installed coin operated toilets yet.

nightski 8y ago

If you are willing to spend $2.99 on a can of soda do you really need to complain about a $0.50 tip which you don't even need to give?

ddingus 8y ago

They can ask. I'm in the "you don't get, unless you ask" camp, and am fine with asking. Doesn't mean they will get it.

daly 8y ago

Umm, I usually give my flight attendants a $20 tip each. These people have been paying attention to my health, safety, and comfort needs for the last 6 hours. They are always pleasant and friendly. My tip will buy them dinner. I used bring them candy but someone pointed out that they could not eat it during flight because it might be tainted. Sigh.