Via iStockphoto / @justinopel TikTok
A man has raised an interesting question. Should flight attendants be entitled to a tip? Or is that too far?
When you’re up in the air, a flight attendant is your first port of call if you need anything on board. But does this job role warrant a tip?
That was the question at the heart of Justin Opel’s TikTok, which has amassed 1,193 views.
“Crazy story,” the Georgia-based creator begins. “So I’m in Orlando a couple of days for work. And on my flight this morning, it was like an hour flight, so the flight attendant came around. And I wanted some M&Ms and a water. So I paid for it, and she handed me like the kiosk thing that they charge the cards to, and she was like, ‘Yeah, if you just select one of these boxes here, I’ll get your M&Ms for you.’ It was a tip. When did you start tipping flight attendants? I mean, that’s crazy. I appreciate everything they do. But to tip flight attendants, is that new, or am I just behind the times? Let me know.”
BroBible reached out to the TikToker via Instagram direct message.
‘Tipping Is Out Of Control’
Some commenters felt that this was ridiculous to tip a flight attendant at all.
“Tipping is out of control,” one wrote.
“I was asked for a tip once at an automated car wash once…” a second added.
On the other side, a third said, “If I get alcohol I tip… Flying since 1985 on ten hour flights to Honolulu… Other than that we used cash so you didn’t know what people were doing… My dad always said to tip everyone.”
Do Airlines Have A Tipping Policy?
All airlines have a different gratuity policy, per Southern Living. While some airlines don’t allow flight attendants to accept any tip—money or gifts—others simply have a few restrictions. Many flight attendants are accustomed to receiving small gifts from customers rather than cash. Southern Living spoke with one flight attendant who said that they especially appreciate goodies like Starbucks gift cards.
Here are some other suggestions from the magazine:
- Hand sanitizer
- Chapstick
- Lotion
- Under-eye patches
The magazine notes that airlines like Frontier ask customers if they’d like to tip when they tap their cards to pay for the food or beverage ordered.
Do Flight Attendants Expect A Tip?
Over on the r/flightattendants subreddit, this question also caused a lot of discord.
“I have read that you’re suppose to tip your flight attendant,” the original poster explained. “The only time I tried this, the woman refused and looked super offended. I was noticeably pregnant at the time and mostly so grateful before they were so kind about ensuring I got an aisle seat… so I don’t know if that plays a part in the story.”
Flight attendants said they’d love it.
“Technically per the company policy we aren’t allowed to accept tips,” one wrote. “In reality, we absolutely love when passengers tip. Our days are long, my airline doesn’t pay for boarding, airport food is expensive and we tip van drivers $1 each ride. Tips definitely aren’t required but if you feel like we did something special for you to make your flight better even the smallest appreciation will make any (grateful) flight attendants day.”
A second added, “It’s not expected, however it makes my day when it happens. As the other person here commented, we really don’t make much for the amount of work we do.”
Others Disagreed
But not everyone was happy with the idea. A third said, “Turning flying into a tipping culture will just wreck the experience. Especially when we see comments advocating tips “up to $100”. And seeing a comment about “especially when it is a business traveller that didn’t pay for their ticket”…business travellers are on the road a lot, but putting expenses upon them is absurd. They are already giving up a lot of time for their business travel, guilt tripped into tipping is after tax money they lose. Flight attendants are generally unionized, it is time those unions got proper salaries for them.”
A fourth Reddit user summed it up when they said. “I feel like this is a very American thing, in countries where the tipping culture is not as entrenched, or doesn’t exist, offering money to a flight attendant would be weird, possibly insulting, and maybe misconstrued.”
So, when it comes to tipping flight attendants, it is clearly a nice-to-have for many of them. But we should be aware that every culture, or tipping culture, in particular, is different.