Do you tip FBO line workers?

Ben2k9

Ben2k9

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Ben2k9
New PPL here. flew into an airport recently. Line guys tied down the plane for me. I was waiting for weather to clear along my destination and as a storm approached, they pulled the plane into the hangar for me. I ended up staying overnight, and took one of their new courtesy cars overnight to a hotel nearby. Inside the FBO there was some good coffee, snacks, etc, a flight planning/Wx area with computers, and a pilots lounge with big TV and leather couches. After all was said and done, I owed the FBO $0. I didn’t even buy fuel, as I used the courtesy car to get some MoGas for my plane elsewhere. Seemed like an amazing deal so I tipped the guys $5 each.

1. Is tipping these guys expected or customary? If so what is a good amount?
 
Several threads on this already. Answers are all over the place.

Bottom line, if they do something that you feel is worth of a tip, then have at it.

For the situation you mentioned, I'd say a tip was warranted. Putting some of that Mogas in the courtesy car would have been a nice gesture as well.
 
Not expected, but I'll tip them if they go above and beyond for something, often though I don't use them, I do all the ground handling of the plane, fuel my own plane by having them just hand me the nozzle and read off fuel flow, etc.
 
$5 or $10 was the usual tip from the NetJets pilots, occasionally a $20. Record was a crisp $100 that a Navajo pilot was giving to each person who interacted with him. That was a great day.

Tips are always nice but I didn't ever aim to make pilots feel like they had to. It was my job to treat them well and keep their business.
 
After using all the amenities,and the crew car,I would guess ,the tip was inadequate. Also the FBO comes out a loser.
 
overdrive148 said:
$5 or $10 was the usual tip from the NetJets pilots, occasionally a $20. Record was a crisp $100 that a Navajo pilot was giving to each person who interacted with him. That was a great day.

Tips are always nice but I didn't ever aim to make pilots feel like they had to. It was my job to treat them well and keep their business.
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Netjet is hands down the worst. One FO on a Global gave me a $10 to get her change... so I run into the FBO and get her a $5 and 5 $1's... she reached into her pocket and gave me change. I was so insulted - especially after they got full service lav etc.

Anyway - I always deliberately carry cash around (when I otherwise never would) to tip the line guys. Go live a day in their shoes and you'll know that you have it better and they deserve a tip.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Netjet is hands down the worst. One FO on a Global gave me a $10 to get her change... so I run into the FBO and get her a $5 and 5 $1's... she reached into her pocket and gave me change. I was so insulted - especially after they got full service lav etc.

Anyway - I always deliberately carry cash around (when I otherwise never would) to tip the line guys. Go live a day in their shoes and you'll know that you have it better and they deserve a tip.
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Ouch!

There were some that were pretty bad... one of the Global captains I dealt with (windshield wash, lav, fuel, and potable water) decided to have a full blown snarkfest about how potable is pronounced when I confirmed his order. Said that our FBO's quality was suffering if we can't even pronounce it right. I had -never- heard it as anything but POTable instead of POHtable water. Sue me!

A good handful did at least show appreciation for getting windshields washed, using a ton of services, or standing the rain or extreme heat even if they didn't tip.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Anyway - I always deliberately carry cash around (when I otherwise never would) to tip the line guys. Go live a day in their shoes and you'll know that you have it better and they deserve a tip.
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That's what I do. IRL, I rarely carry cash, but when flying the dream, I always carry a bunch of fivers for tipping the line guys. I know they already get paid for doing their job, but I don't imagine they get paid very much. So I tip all of them that help me unless they do something to tick me off.
 
Ben2k9 said:
New PPL here. flew into an airport recently. Line guys tied down the plane for me. I was waiting for weather to clear along my destination and as a storm approached, they pulled the plane into the hangar for me. I ended up staying overnight, and took one of their new courtesy cars overnight to a hotel nearby. Inside the FBO there was some good coffee, snacks, etc, a flight planning/Wx area with computers, and a pilots lounge with big TV and leather couches. After all was said and done, I owed the FBO $0. I didn’t even buy fuel, as I used the courtesy car to get some MoGas for my plane elsewhere. Seemed like an amazing deal so I tipped the guys $5 each.

1. Is tipping these guys expected or customary? If so what is a good amount?
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3393RP said:
If this isn't a troll I'd say five bucks was shamefully cheap.

:rolleyes:
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No worries, he will be here complaining about egregious ramp fees if he has to pay a $20 at another FBO..
 
Ben2k9 said:
New PPL here. flew into an airport recently. Line guys tied down the plane for me. I was waiting for weather to clear along my destination and as a storm approached, they pulled the plane into the hangar for me. I ended up staying overnight, and took one of their new courtesy cars overnight to a hotel nearby. Inside the FBO there was some good coffee, snacks, etc, a flight planning/Wx area with computers, and a pilots lounge with big TV and leather couches. After all was said and done, I owed the FBO $0.
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How about giving the FBO some free advertising by telling us who it was? When an FBO ticks someone off, their name gets repeated and repeated, so why not give us the name of an FBO that treated you well?
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Netjet is hands down the worst. One FO on a Global gave me a $10 to get her change... so I run into the FBO and get her a $5 and 5 $1's... she reached into her pocket and gave me change. I was so insulted - especially after they got full service lav etc.
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I was going to say....I'm surprised an NJ pilot even tipped at all!
 
I almost never need line service but if the conditions are poor and they help me when I rather not do it myself, I'm happy to tip. Sometimes they just won't take my money. I've gotten a few free hangar overnights when that happens.
 
Ben2k9 said:
New PPL here. flew into an airport recently. Line guys tied down the plane for me. I was waiting for weather to clear along my destination and as a storm approached, they pulled the plane into the hangar for me. I ended up staying overnight, and took one of their new courtesy cars overnight to a hotel nearby. Inside the FBO there was some good coffee, snacks, etc, a flight planning/Wx area with computers, and a pilots lounge with big TV and leather couches. After all was said and done, I owed the FBO $0. I didn’t even buy fuel, as I used the courtesy car to get some MoGas for my plane elsewhere. Seemed like an amazing deal so I tipped the guys $5 each.

1. Is tipping these guys expected or customary? If so what is a good amount?
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Douchiest move I've ever seen written about on this board. Congrats.
 
EdFred said:
Douchiest move I've ever seen written about on this board. Congrats.
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Just so I understand, what was the "douchiest move"? Was it going off airport in a courtesy car to buy fuel elsewhere? I assume the FBO didn't sell Mogas.
Or was it the fact that he only tipped the line guys $5. He didn't say how many line guys he tipped.
 
Tip the line people? Only if they are sleeping standing up, of course.

Oh, wait, that's cows, never mind.
 
overdrive148 said:
There were some that were pretty bad... one of the Global captains I dealt with (windshield wash, lav, fuel, and potable water) decided to have a full blown snarkfest about how potable is pronounced when I confirmed his order. Said that our FBO's quality was suffering if we can't even pronounce it right. I had -never- heard it as anything but POTable instead of POHtable water. Sue me!
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That's funny - every once in awhile I'll run into someone that rants about that. As you said, almost *everyone* pronounces it as POTable. It's funny when people get all spun up over the stupidest crap.
 
I go to the bank occasionally and buy up all their two dollar bills and then hand them out liberally to line guys. Not a lot of money but appreciated for its uniqueness.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Netjet is hands down the worst. One FO on a Global gave me a $10 to get her change... so I run into the FBO and get her a $5 and 5 $1's... she reached into her pocket and gave me change. I was so insulted - especially after they got full service lav etc.

Anyway - I always deliberately carry cash around (when I otherwise never would) to tip the line guys. Go live a day in their shoes and you'll know that you have it better and they deserve a tip.
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They can't tip more than $5 for any particular service. Too many pilots used to say they were tipping big bucks on their daily expense report and they were actually pocketing the cash. NJA decided to put a cap on how much they could claim in a day therefore the limit is 5 for a lav, 5 for fuel, five for ice and coffee......
 
JOhnH said:
Just so I understand, what was the "douchiest move"? Was it going off airport in a courtesy car to buy fuel elsewhere? I assume the FBO didn't sell Mogas.
Or was it the fact that he only tipped the line guys $5. He didn't say how many line guys he tipped.
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Agreed. I don’t see what the douche move is here. I bet most of the cheap-ass pilots on this board wouldn’t have even tipped what the OP did in this situation.

If the FBO didn’t charge anything, and he still tipped the line guys, I’d say the OP is more conscientious than most pilots out there.
 
NJP_MAN said:
They can't tip more than $5 for any particular service. Too many pilots used to say they were tipping big bucks on their daily expense report and they were actually pocketing the cash. NJA decided to put a cap on how much they could claim in a day therefore the limit is 5 for a lav, 5 for fuel, five for ice and coffee......
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That makes the 10s and 20s that I'd occasionally get more heartfelt then.
 
NJP_MAN said:
They can't tip more than $5 for any particular service. Too many pilots used to say they were tipping big bucks on their daily expense report and they were actually pocketing the cash. NJA decided to put a cap on how much they could claim in a day therefore the limit is 5 for a lav, 5 for fuel, five for ice and coffee......
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So they gave us none. Great.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
So they gave us none. Great.
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It's amazing how cheap pilots can be. I've flown with guys that'll talk all about the $40K month they just had, then ***** and moan about tipping a buck or two to the van driver.
 
I look at the courtesy car situation as a "i really like the atmosphere at applebees so I am going to get a table there but I'm going to have chilis deliver food that I'm going to eat there instead."

I suppose that's A OK as well.
 
It's a service job. Good service gets a tip. I try to have some 5s on me when I go flying.


As for the douchebag move of using the courtesy car to buy mogas, some owners of mogas planes seem to think that a single tank of Avgas is poison to their engines. 'It corrodes their valve stems' it 'burns too hot' or some other magical thinking. If it's just to save a couple of bucks it's a DB move.
 
Did anyone ever think that maybe Ben (the OP) is a new pilot, did put gas in the courtesy car and got mogas off airport because the airport didn't sell it? Did anyone ever read Ben's post as someone new asking a question about how much to tip? Did every pilot on this board emerge from the womb with tipping knowledge?

There is a lot that Ben didn't say other than he tipped the line guys five bucks each (which some have agreed is an acceptable amount) and he hasn't come back to explain. I don't blame him.
 
As far as tipping goes. I don't tip a guy just for fueling my airplane I figure that's normal service. I will tip if they bring the plane around for me or help me unload bags or other sorts of things.

I'm also less likely to tip if the FBO has a bunch of fees I equate that to mandatory 18% gratuity on a dinner check.
 
JOhnH said:
Of course he is correct. I don't think anybody thought otherwise. The point was that he IS a jerk for harassing a line guy about the pronunciation.
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Why? Are line guys supposed to be ignorant, uneducated beasts? Are they expected to be incapable of learning? ;)
 
I'm in line with EdFred I think. I'll tip if they help me with other stuff besides fueling, such as helping with my cover, carrying suitcases or the car seat etc... I try to remember to stop at the ATM on the way to the airport just to make sure I have tipping money on me, but that doesn't always work out. I usually tip 5 or 10, but occasionally 20 for stellar service.
 
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