Think of all the service people who habitually get tips: hotel bellmen, taxi drivers, waiters and waitresses, the guys who handle curbside baggage at airports, sometimes even the baristas at Starbucks. But not flight attendants. Why not?
Maybe it’s because they’re thought to earn a pretty good living and don’t need the tips. Maybe it’s because they’re simply thought to be salaried employees of a sort that for whatever reason shouldn’t accept tips. Maybe for some reason they are actually prohibited from accepting tips. Maybe it harks back to the day when most flight attendants were women and most passengers were men — and, given the somewhat mystical (or perhaps mythical) reputation of the amorous businessman and the foxy stewardess, the exchange of money at flight’s end may have raised some questions about just what the stewardess had done to deserve the tip.
Still, it’s very odd to me that so many service people who perform similar functions get tipped and that flight attendants don’t. Especially when they often work so hard for so many people, running back and forth with drinks, pillows, headphones, etc. Yes, I know that most people are pretty unhappy with the airline experience these days, and I know that the occasional flight attendant is crabby beyond belief, but in my experience most of them do a really great job, often under trying circumstances.
It’s not that I’m advocating for yet another kind of worker to get tips. But having flown a lot lately, and seeing how hard flight attendants work, it struck me as odd that they don’t get tipped. At least I’ve never seen anyone tip a flight attendant. And when I asked flight attendants on my last 5 flights if they’d ever gotten a tip, each of them said no, never. Their reactions to my question ranged from quizzical to hopeful.
Most economists have argued that tipping is a horribly inefficient and archaic practice. (FWIW, Levitt makes fun of me whenever I tip anyone for anything; and if I recall correctly, Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff wrote about tipping in their engaging book Why Not?) But that has hardly stopped people from doing it — increasingly so, it seems to me. I think on my flight home today, I’ll simply slip the tip instead of asking the question, and see what happens.
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Being a flight attendant is actually a very sought after job. The interview process is very intense, training is long, and there are not a whole lot of positions available. The salary is decent, and there are many great benefits to the job like having a flexible schedule, travel, and very inexpensive or free personal flights. (I knew someone who was able to go standby on any flight for free).
That being said, they have a lot of motivation to give excellent customer service already. I think people tip either when it’s expected (restaurants,bar,etc.) or when they receive exceptional service beyond what is expected.
As a parallel, when we receive excellent service from a Nurse in the hospital (who could also bring you food, drinks, and make sure you’re comfortable), do we tip them?
I for one like tipping, and do it sometimes in order to receive good service, which I know is backwards. For instance, if you were to tip a flight attendant early in the flight, I’ll bet that you will get better service than any non-tippers for the remainder of the flight
I also always tip for Alcohol.
Being a flight attendant is actually a very sought after job. The interview process is very intense, training is long, and there are not a whole lot of positions available. The salary is decent, and there are many great benefits to the job like having a flexible schedule, travel, and very inexpensive or free personal flights. (I knew someone who was able to go standby on any flight for free).
That being said, they have a lot of motivation to give excellent customer service already. I think people tip either when it’s expected (restaurants,bar,etc.) or when they receive exceptional service beyond what is expected.
As a parallel, when we receive excellent service from a Nurse in the hospital (who could also bring you food, drinks, and make sure you’re comfortable), do we tip them?
I for one like tipping, and do it sometimes in order to receive good service, which I know is backwards. For instance, if you were to tip a flight attendant early in the flight, I’ll bet that you will get better service than any non-tippers for the remainder of the flight
I also always tip for Alcohol.
Flight attendants don’t readily accept tips for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we don’t rely on tips for income as bartenders or waitresses do. And secondly, we aren’t bartenders or waitresses. We’re there to ensure a safe and secure flight; the inflight service is secondary to that, even though that is (ideally) all you will ever see us do. My job, aside from the safety aspect, is to make you feel as welcome on board my aircraft as you would in my home. You certainly wouldn’t offer a tip to your dinner host – and likewise it is (or should be) out of place to offer a tip to your flight attendant.
Of course this ideal has changed, sadly, as service standards and wages have declined among many US carriers. Despite the changes, I don’t believe that tipping is appropriate on board and it certainly isn’t necessary. Many of my colleagues have taken such drastic pay cuts that they may disagree, but supporting their bid for liveable wages and pensions would likely be far more appreciated.
Flight attendants don’t readily accept tips for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we don’t rely on tips for income as bartenders or waitresses do. And secondly, we aren’t bartenders or waitresses. We’re there to ensure a safe and secure flight; the inflight service is secondary to that, even though that is (ideally) all you will ever see us do. My job, aside from the safety aspect, is to make you feel as welcome on board my aircraft as you would in my home. You certainly wouldn’t offer a tip to your dinner host – and likewise it is (or should be) out of place to offer a tip to your flight attendant.
Of course this ideal has changed, sadly, as service standards and wages have declined among many US carriers. Despite the changes, I don’t believe that tipping is appropriate on board and it certainly isn’t necessary. Many of my colleagues have taken such drastic pay cuts that they may disagree, but supporting their bid for liveable wages and pensions would likely be far more appreciated.
Air travel is a strange place- I don’t know why it’s not normal for people to tip. I know many people (including an economist or two) who refuse to tip altogether. They invariably have some sort of logical justification they use to defend themselves when challenged by friends, but they are completely missing out on the social aspect of things. No matter what your logic is, the person who just served you is going to think that you were unsatisfied with their performance if you don’t tip. Arguments aside, you just affected a person’s day negatively. It’s mostly harmless, but so are many other minor public antagonisms like not flushing a public toilet or butting in line at the store.
Morally, the only justification I would acknowledge is if the person serving you has more money than you do. Ironically, the only people I know who refuse to tip are much better off than the people serving them. Most people I know who don’t make that much money have at one point or another had to work in service, so tip reasonably. Because service people get tips, their minimum wage is often lower than jobs that don’t get tips. I used to make 20% less than a walmart worker per hour when I was a busboy because the waitresses were supposed to tip me. I also got taxed as if I got a certain amount of tips, whether I got any or not.
Air travel is a strange place- I don’t know why it’s not normal for people to tip. I know many people (including an economist or two) who refuse to tip altogether. They invariably have some sort of logical justification they use to defend themselves when challenged by friends, but they are completely missing out on the social aspect of things. No matter what your logic is, the person who just served you is going to think that you were unsatisfied with their performance if you don’t tip. Arguments aside, you just affected a person’s day negatively. It’s mostly harmless, but so are many other minor public antagonisms like not flushing a public toilet or butting in line at the store.
Morally, the only justification I would acknowledge is if the person serving you has more money than you do. Ironically, the only people I know who refuse to tip are much better off than the people serving them. Most people I know who don’t make that much money have at one point or another had to work in service, so tip reasonably. Because service people get tips, their minimum wage is often lower than jobs that don’t get tips. I used to make 20% less than a walmart worker per hour when I was a busboy because the waitresses were supposed to tip me. I also got taxed as if I got a certain amount of tips, whether I got any or not.
Levitt makes fun of you for tipping?? I was once eating in the Subway in Hyde Park on 57th St when Prof Levitt was also there, ordering to go. I watched him pay for his sub, leave the place, then hand a handful of bills to a guy sitting outside begging for change. I’d say tipping makes a lot more sense than that. Most of the beggars in Hyde Park dress better than I do.
Levitt makes fun of you for tipping?? I was once eating in the Subway in Hyde Park on 57th St when Prof Levitt was also there, ordering to go. I watched him pay for his sub, leave the place, then hand a handful of bills to a guy sitting outside begging for change. I’d say tipping makes a lot more sense than that. Most of the beggars in Hyde Park dress better than I do.