Social responsibility? Cultural ignorance, more like. Do you expect Europeans or Asians not to tip in the US because this is how it is done where they come from?

 

This thread reminds me of the famous "Achilles and the Gyro" paradox. Achilles stops at a kebab stand and orders a gyro. The charge is 100 drachmas. Achilles pays the 100 drachma plus a 15 drachma tip. But the stand owner points out that the tip brings the total bill up to 128.23 drachmas, on which Achilles should tip 15%, for a total of 147.46 drachmas. But that new total of 147.46 drachmas with tip now amounts to 169.58 drachmas. This continues until Achilles either refutes the paradox or goes back to Troy totally broke.

Don't laugh too hard. Being expected to tip on top of tips (like service charges) is getting more and more common. Eventually we'll all be expected just to throw money at anyone who does anything for us until they tell us to stop.

 

I generally agree with you that I don�t tip anybody at airports for providing a service (except for restaurants etc.) and I�d never consider tipping FA/GA etc. (though bringing a box of chocolates on Christmas or writing a letter is something different). Anyhow I once had an interesting conversation with a manager of an airline:

At many lounges (I can definitely confirm FRA, LHR) the cleaning staff are not employed by the airlines directly but through some third party. I was confirmed that cleaning staff at both airports earn <$10/hour, from all my lounge visits I�d guess >90% were Pakistanis, Indians, Africans and a few Eastern Europeans and most barely spoke German/English, if the service is fine and the shower room is clean I do tip $/�/GBP2 from time to time, and the cleaning staff has been very appreciative.

 

Ok... I have two issues here.

Well - maybe more.

Anyways - first of all it really really really BUGS me when I take a hotel shuttle and the driver hops out of the van to pick up my case and stow it for me. It's a single piece of hand luggage, weighs less than 22 pounds. I am young, fit and mobile. I DON'T want his help. And then i am made to feel guilty about not giving him a tip for service which I didn't ask for and didn't want.

ok. Rant over.

Well - except I refuse to pay for tips in the airline lounges at the bar in the US. Not my fault the airline doesn't pay them more. And besides, if they got a $ for every drink they served they'd be earning more than I do.

Yeah I know - bad manners of me maybe but I just don't like it. I wouldn't expect you to tip me if you came to my home country.

I was 'sort' of ok with it until an attendant expected a tip for getting me a bottle of water out of the fridge for me. His 'added' service was to break the seal.

As for F passengers being able to tip (or rather that they should tip)... reminds me of an article i read a few years ago that suggested travelling with luggage in F was less than classy as it suggested one didn't have the means to support yourself at both ends of your journey (implying I guess that you should be able to have a full set of clothes in all of your houses / hotel suites across the world!). Of course that was tongue in cheek. But I wonder if the same applies to tipping? Surely in F one has no need for petty cash when one flies F??

 

As I was coming through LAX I used a hotel shuttle bus both ways. Both buses were full. Both drivers lifted, stowed and offloaded all the suitcases of all the passengers. I didn't see a single tip given and the drivers gave no indication of expecting tips. Are we sure tips really are expected in all the situations that are so often described here on FT - or is it really a subconscious wish from some posters to stand out from the crowd?

 

One time when an airline sent me to a hotel at JFK, the shuttle driver tried to demand $20 tips from all of the foreigners, saying that this was expected/required in the US. He wasn't happy when I announced otherwise.

Sometimes if a number of people are on my hotel shuttle, I'll pull a tip out in order to get my luggage faster and beat the line inside to check in. Similarly, I'll sometimes do the same for an airport electric cart driver when I need to be taken to my gate without further stops for other passengers.