How much do you tip your pilots?

Larry in TN said:
In 1990, I flew Grand Canyon tours out of the Las Vegas airport formally known as McCarren. Since we were doing tours, we'd occasionally get tips. Not many. Not often.
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You shoulda went farther north. Or is it further north.??

One summer I flew tours around Mt McKinley. I pocketed around 6k in tips.

Another summer I flew bear photo tours out of Homer. Pocketed nearly 10k in tips, plus most of the folks gotta big kick out of the beach landings. They thought it was like real bush flying. Also helped that I dressed for the role.

I had a few folks try to tip me after air medical transport flights, but I always refused. I told them to get well and that will be enough of a tip for me.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I feel like my landings keep getting better and better but I'm just not seeing the kind of tips that I expected to in this gig.

I mean full transparency I haven't gotten any. Am I doing something wrong?
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It’s not you, it’s your airline. Really, with the whole transition from leaving cash on the table to putting tips on the credit card receipt, your airline needs to just add a line for crew tips during the ticket payment process.

The cruise ship industry went all in on this. You can prepay a flat rate tip, usually a few hundred dollars, you can leave cash, or, during checkout, you can pay it then.

Y’all need to up your game.
 
TCABM said:
It’s not you, it’s your airline. Really, with the whole transition from leaving cash on the table to putting tips on the credit card receipt, your airline needs to just add a line for crew tips during the ticket payment process.

The cruise ship industry went all in on this. You can prepay a flat rate tip, usually a few hundred dollars, you can leave cash, or, during checkout, you can pay it then.

Y’all need to up your game.
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I don't think any airline needs any more ideas on how to extract more cash during a transaction tyvm.
 
Dave Theisen said:
You spelled running wrong. :)
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If we're playing the which word fits game, my money is on either praying or crying.

And I have it on good authority that the story "eat, pray, love" was not about a spiritual journey, it was instead the description of embarking on a questionable airline flight and surviving it.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Well when I go tipping, I keep my feet shoulder-width apart. Stay between the udder and hock. You put your shoulder into them and you push...
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When a cow gets tipped over, can it get back up on its own, or does it have to just lie there helpless, like a turtle on its back?
 
A ticked off cow can stand up as quickly as you can. And then they can show you just how upset they are
 
Initial Fix said:
Depends on the landing. Sometimes I give a tip like “former Navy eh?” after a particularly solid landing.
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To which I always replied…

“Yes, thank you!”

Tools, land like ya mean it
 
I don't want to tip you, but I'll be damned if I'll ever understand why we tip people for trivial jobs and don't tip professional folks even if they go above and beyond.
 
Salty said:
I don't want to tip you, but I'll be damned if I'll ever understand why we tip people for trivial jobs and don't tip professional folks even if they go above and beyond.
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Tipping derives from noblesse oblige and the oblige does not extend to peers.
 
I have received many, many tips after giving a short scenic ride in the local area. Usually $20, sometimes more. Some of my former students have been generous after passing a checkride, usually a gift rather than a cash tip. One gave me a year's membership in a wine club.
 
Salty said:
I don't want to tip you, but I'll be damned if I'll ever understand why we tip people for trivial jobs and don't tip professional folks even if they go above and beyond.
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I can't speak for everyone, but I tip partly to be a good guy, and partly so they don't poison me. I'll leave it up in the air what the percentage is between those two.

I like the tipping system, and have to admit that part of the reason I like the system is that it really annoys some people and for whatever reason I find that funny. I also kinda like the arguments where someone starts up with the living wage thing, pretending to the world that they're supporting the common man, whatever that is, while really just being cheap. But perhaps I'm just mean myself, but to different groups of people.
 
I went to a bar called "Hoppin" in Grapevine TX recently where you grab a glass from the freezer and you have access to all of the taps and you pay by the ounce.
To be clear. you go get a wristband, activate it w/ your credit card, get your own glass, pour your own beer.

I scanned the QR code to pay my bill and they automatically add 20% gratuity to the tab.

I generally tip min 20% but I won't go back on principal.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I went to a bar called "Hoppin" in Grapevine TX recently where you grab a glass from the freezer and you have access to all of the taps and you pay by the ounce.
To be clear. you go get a wristband, activate it w/ your credit card, get your own glass, pour your own beer.

I scanned the QR code to pay my bill and they automatically add 20% gratuity to the tab.

I generally tip min 20% but I won't go back on principal.
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There used to be a bar in Albany that would collect the credit cards of the customers who were running a tab, then charge them out at the end of the day. I never heard of anyone being ripped off, but I declined using that system and paid by the drink. I knew two different people who worked there who said that the management asked them if they'd like to be paid in cocaine rather than cash...and this was in the 90s, not the 80s.

Anyway, the connection stuck in my head. The only time a bar gets my credit card is if I'm signing it to my room because I'm staying in that hotel. Otherwise it's a cash transaction...just like it would be if I had a drug dealer. Different businesses, but they kinda live in the same neighborhood.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I went to a bar called "Hoppin" in Grapevine TX recently where you grab a glass from the freezer and you have access to all of the taps and you pay by the ounce.
To be clear. you go get a wristband, activate it w/ your credit card, get your own glass, pour your own beer.

I scanned the QR code to pay my bill and they automatically add 20% gratuity to the tab.

I generally tip min 20% but I won't go back on principal.
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Generally, my rule is self service or if I walk up to a counter to order, I don’t tip. Exceptions usually for local businesses, especially the newer ones
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I went to a bar called "Hoppin" in Grapevine TX recently where you grab a glass from the freezer and you have access to all of the taps and you pay by the ounce.
To be clear. you go get a wristband, activate it w/ your credit card, get your own glass, pour your own beer.

I scanned the QR code to pay my bill and they automatically add 20% gratuity to the tab.

I generally tip min 20% but I won't go back on principal.
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Since you served yourself, you should have asked the manager to pay you your well-earned tip.
 
One of the great things about “No tax on tips” is that I can tip less to give the server the same net amount.
:devil:
 
The local medical center/healthcare megalopolis sends me a letter with a handy return envelope every month (I’m there twice a year). The letter asks ‘Are you happy with the care you received? If so, would you send a gift if $200, or even $100 or $50, to show your appreciation to your healthcare providers?’

Hard pass. I’ve never seen that done anywhere else.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
To be clear. you go get a wristband, activate it w/ your credit card, get your own glass, pour your own beer. ...they automatically add 20% gratuity to the tab.
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Now THAT is totally #()$*&-ed up.

As an aside, please indulge the following public service announcement.

Pro Tip: When on a layover, always pay cash.
 
Half Fast said:
One of the great things about “No tax on tips” is that I can tip less to give the server the same net amount.
:devil:
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My wife teaches yoga at the senior center. Pay was a recommended tip amount.

They built a new senior center. The yoga classroom is smaller and can’t fit as many students, so her income is going down much more than is offset by “no tax on tips.” Since the classroom is smaller, the center decided that students have to preregister and pay through the senior center, so my wife will get a wage instead of tips, so it’s back to paying taxes on the income.

Then, of course, when she’s gone and has a sub, they’ll require my wife to pay the sub instead of the center paying the sub directly.

She’s going to talk to the rec center about teaching there instead.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I hear this a lot. Why?
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1. In our own backyard, we instinctively know when something ain't quite right. Even after a couple of drinks, we still have the ability to detect something out-of-the-ordinary, such as another patron with malicious intent, or a bartender/server who, say, steals their customer's credit card numbers. But in another city, and especially another country and culture, our ability to pick-up on subtle cues that indicate danger is greatly diminished. By the time we get back to our hotel room, our card has been compromised and likely flagged and locked by the issuer's security system. And there are some who did not make it back to their hotel, who instead got roofied--or just beaten--and robbed after leaving the bar. There are many stories, most of them true.

2. Every time we use our card we've left indelible digital fingerprints that can be used to identify where we've been, when we were there, and what we did while there. That information can be used against us in an investigation, even if we are not the subject of that investigation. Again, there are stories, more than one might suppose
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I hear this a lot. Why?
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My answer is simpler. Not sure if it's still true, but used to be the hospitality industry was responsible for most credit card compromises. Now with a normal credit card, you won't lose any money from that, but it's still a serious pita. So I'll use a cc for the hotels and car rentals because there's no reasonable alternative, but for everything else I'm generally using either cash, or a second card where I care less if it's locked up for a while.

In my very limited overseas travel, I have noticed a card open for a while with charges added, or the exchange rate being 'edited' to something pretty wild compared to reality. Nickle and dime stuff for me, but it's true that not all cc systems in all countries are the same or as secure as here. And to be fair, I would expect EU to actually be stricter than us in general. Central America, Caribbean? Perhaps not so much. To my untrained eye the cyber stuff seems to track with a country's electrical codes.

RW's point about tracking seems overkill these days for North American travel, but if you're going someplace outside US/Canada, and something weird happens at the bar you were at, I could see the local PD running a list of all the CC names for that evening, and pulling the ones for foreigners and holding them for investigation. No idea if that happens now or in the past, no idea if it's paranoid to consider it, but it does seem plausible.
 
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