Should You Tip Flight Attendants? No, Except…

I wrote about tipping in airport lounges. People had different opinions. I wanted to write about a topic that most of us will be in agreement on, but I wanted to look at it differently.

No, you shouldn’t tip flight attendants

Flight attendants don't need to be tipped, unlike other people in service industries. There is no expectation to tip flight attendants, and some airlines have policies against tipping flight attendants. I wanted to look at it from different angles.

What flight attendant unions say about tipping

Flight attendant unions are against the idea of being tipped. The Association of Flight Attendants said in a statement a few years back.

“Tipping is not part of a Flight Attendant’s compensation for serving as aviation’s first responders. Flight Attendants are certified for our safety, health, and security work. Safety is not variable and therefore base compensation for a safety job cannot be variable.”

I have always found this perspective to be a bit odd.

• Unions overplay how flight attendants are aviation’s “first responders” — yes, flight attendants absolutely have important safety functions and should be respected for that, but the reality is that they spend a vast majority of their time on customer service, rather than dealing with emergency situations, and the two aren’t mutually exclusive
• It’s interesting how unions aren’t opposed to flight attendants being paid for credit card applications (via the inflight sales pitches), even though arguably it has a similar impact to allowing tipping

Are flight attendants allowed to accept tips?

A surprising number of passengers try to tip flight attendants even though they don't expect them to. Most flight attendants have at one point or another been offered a tip from a passenger in their career.

Flight attendants are not allowed to accept tips on most major airlines. Southwest discourages tips, but states that flight attendants are allowed to accept tips if a passenger wants them.

How you can show gratitude to flight attendants

There are a few ways to show your gratitude to a flight attendant.

• You can simply thank them for the great service, and tell them how much you appreciate it
• You can write a nice note to the airline complimenting an employee, and you do so via Twitter or email
• Elite members at airlines are often given “job well done” certificates, which they can give to employees that go above and beyond

A non-cash gift would be better received and less controversial than a cash gift if you want to provide a more tangible gesture to a flight attendant. This could be a gift card for Starbucks or a box of chocolates.

The one airline that asks for flight attendant tips

There is one exception to the rule of no tipping. Frontier Airlines encourages passengers to tip, unlike almost every other airline in the world. The ultra low cost carrier charges for food and drinks, and when you pay with a credit card, you will be given the option to tip as a percentage of the purchase amount.

A Frontier Airlines spokesman describes the company's policy.

“We appreciate the great work of our flight attendants and know that our customers do as well. Tipping is entirely at the customer’s discretion, and many do it.”

This confuses a lot of passengers.

• On the one hand, if you’re in the United States, you’re asked to tip, and you’re being provided a service, many may feel cheap not tipping
• On the other hand, even Frontier Airlines’ flight attendant union opposes tipping, claiming that the airline does this in lieu of paying flight attendants better

Is it rational that we don’t tip flight attendants?

I don't want to start a campaign to start tipping flight attendants, but I think this is an interesting topic to discuss in the context of the tipping culture in the United States.

If you are in domestic first class, you might have someone looking after you for five hours, serving you a meal, constantly refilling your drinks, and so on.

People complain about the level of service provided by flight attendants. When flight attendants are judged based on their seniority number, they get no real pay for providing premium service and no pay for working in a working economy, what standards can we really have?

The service in restaurants in the United States is more attentive than in Europe, and it's probably because the server is paid with tips. If there were a variable pay element that reflected the level of service provided, the service culture would be different.

I'm not suggesting that we should change policy here, but I do think that many people aren't happy with the level of service provided by flight attendants, and this is one of the few service industries. I think that is not a coincidence.

Bottom line

You shouldn't tip flight attendants, only on Frontier, where you have the option of doing so. Airlines unions and management don't agree on tipping, but there are other ways to show your gratitude.

What do you think about flight attendant tipping?