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| Ⓒ Provided by Condé Nast Traveler |
By Rachel Chang, Condé Nast Traveler
In addition to keeping everyone in the aircraft cabin safe, flight attendants pour us drinks like bartenders, deliver us meals like servers, help with our baggage like bellhops, and attend to our every need like concierges. And while we readily give gratuities to all of those hospitality professionals for their service, we rarely even think to tip our flight attendants, who wear all those hats and more.
Whether travelers should be tipping flight crews is a question that often comes up during holiday season—the time of giving when we also gift annual gratuities to other service professionals. Given that the majority of flight attendants are only paid for “flight hours,” meaning boarding and disembarking time goes unpaid for most airlines, and with year-end travel being so very hectic, might this be a habit that we should be extending to flight crews during the busy travel period, or even year-round?
New York-based flight attendant Sarah, who wanted to be identified only by her first name, says she has never been tipped with money, but has received chocolates, snacks, thank you notes, and even gift cards “to places like Starbucks, which most flight attendants love to receive.” She appreciates that thoughtfulness, saying “it just makes me pass that same energy forward.”
Yet she admits that she does wonder why she used to get tips as a bartender, but never as a flight attendant. “I do wish it was more common and standard to tip in some way,” she says. “Think about how many flight attendants miss those holidays at home with family in order to get passengers to their holiday festivities. This profession gets extra lonely during the holidays so yes, I do think that tipping in times like these should be more common.”
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She adds the practice should perhaps be even more commonplace in premium cabins where “the experience is just like a restaurant. If you believe you should tip in a restaurant, you should also tip in the air.” But Sarah adds that overall, it should only be done if it feels like you’ve received good service.
Shawn Kathleen, meanwhile, a former flight attendant who now runs the Passenger Shaming social media account, says that she did receive cash tips “a decent amount” during her flying years. One of the most memorable was when she chatted with a passenger during a flight and mentioned she had to get a manicure when they landed. “As he walked off the plane, he handed me 50 bucks and was like, ‘This is for you to get your nails done,’” she remembers. “That was super awesome.”
Another time, a couple who were frequent fliers on one of her routes were coming back from Mexico and gifted her with a little turtle with a bobbing head as souvenir on their return trip. “These people were out on their vacation, and they thought about the flight crew—that is just so cute!” she says. “Stuff like that was just so kind.”
Despite all those meaningful moments, she emphasizes, “I promise you that no flight attendant is ever expecting a tip or gift.” Kathleen echoes Sarah’s sentiment that even a $5 Starbucks card is so appreciated as an unexpected gesture.
Airlines often have special instructions for how crew members should handle receiving tips, according to Kathleen, with some carriers saying crew should reject gratuity on first try, but can accept in subsequent insistence. She did ultimately accept the gratuities because, she says, even on a full-time schedule, she qualified for food stamps during her tenure.
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Tipping flight attendants with cash can be extra hazy, especially when it comes to international travel since so many other countries don’t have a tipping culture. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to acknowledge the service of the crew—and it doesn’t always have to require much. “We love it when people just look up from their phone and say hello from one human to another when boarding the plane,” says Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 flight attendants at 19 airlines.
There are also larger implications that come with tipping flight crew that passengers might not have considered. “Tipping undermines our role,” says Nelson. While some of the passenger-facing duties of flight attendants do seemingly cross over with many service professions, the most essential duty is actually one we hope to not witness on our flights: emergency response. “Flight attendants are certified for our safety, health, and security,” she says.
Passengers shouldn't have the option of expecting preferential treatment, according to Nelson, especially when it comes to safety situations. “Should we give a person a better seat for survival in an emergency because they tipped ‘big enough?’ Should we act with more urgency to get the medical kit, oxygen, or a defibrillator in a medical emergency because a patient or their loved one gives us a wad of cash?” she asks. “We’re safety professionals. Our job is to keep you safe and secure. Tipping has no place in our work.”
Nelson says she appreciates the sentiment of the question, but says tips just aren't the way to go if you want to acknowledge your cabin crew. “Our jobs are harder than ever,” she says. “If you'd like to thank your flight attendants, bring a smile or some chocolate. Then sit back, listen to crew safety instructions, and fly safe.”
While their safety roles differentiate them from service workers and other professions we routinely tip, when it comes to acknowledging flight attendants, other tokens of appreciation—or even just a few kind words around the holidays—will likely be enthusiastically received.
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