Travelers in the United States are used to tipping a multitude of people, from the baristas who make their frothy coffee concoctions to restaurant servers, parking valets, hotel housekeepers and Uber drivers. But tipping a flight attendant? It’s largely unheard of. Almost all domestic US airlines have policies prohibiting flight attendants from accepting tips, but one ultra-low-cost carrier is bucking that tradition. About three years ago, Frontier Airlines introduced new technology to its inflight payment system that explicitly gives passengers the option to tip flight attendants.
Not that anyone seemed to notice at the time.Related content The world’s most punctual airports and airlines for 2019 revealed Tipping a flight attendant was a new concept for J.T. Genter, a senior writer at The Points Guy website, who has flown over 350 flights on 51 airlines in the three years. Several weeks ago, Genter recounted his surprise at being prompted to tip his Frontier flight attendant after ordering a can of ginger ale. His anecdote went viral and got many travelers wondering if flight attendants will be the next group of workers we’ll be tipping.
Behind the mentality
“We appreciate the great work of our flight attendants and know that our customers do as well,” says Jonathan Freed, a Frontier spokesperson. “Tipping is entirely at the customer’s discretion, and many do it.”
But it’s not easy to change tipping culture.
“There can be many motivations for why we want to tip someone,” says Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, who has written extensively on tipping.
“In general, the dynamic is that we tip people in jobs that are lower status than us. My guess is that most people don’t think of flight attendants as being lower status.”
Perhaps not. “But it’s a really hard job. These are people who do a really important job and don’t earn tremendous sums of money for doing it,” says Seth Kaplan, founding editor at Aviation Weekly.
Part of what makes a flight attendant’s job difficult is that they don so many hats.
“Flight attendants are certified for our safety, health and security work,” says Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants, the union that represents 50,000 flight attendants at 20 US airlines, including Frontier. As “aviation’s first responders,” says Nelson, the flight attendant’s primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of passengers.
Of course, flight attendants also serve food and drinks, and the service component of the job is typically what is most visible to passengers. “In terms of where they see flight attendants putting most of their time and energy, it’s mostly serving passengers,” says Lynn.
Fewer passengers may realize that a flight attendant is also a salesperson.
“On almost every airline in the United States, flight attendants are getting on the loudspeaker and announcing that they have this great deal on a credit card. When people get approved for the credit card, the flight attendant gets a bonus,” says Brian Sumers, aviation business editor at Skift, the travel intel site.
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