Originally Posted by
bubba198
Other people have answered this regarding tangible benefit. And frankly based on this, I at times feel sheepish about rewarding great service with such a small tangible reward. But I give them out frequently. My standard is simply friendliness and responsiveness to requests. Every AAplause I have given out has been accepted graciously, typically with sincere thanks when given and again when leaving the plane.
I think it is just the little effort to thank somebody in a work day filled with the same old same old. It is very human to get a psychological boost from this.
I feel the same. And I will admit I some times use them to get better service - if I'm flying very early with a crew that seems to be phoning it in, at the first point of contact, I will shift it into a positive gear: "You guys are the best crew I've had in a while! I can tell this is going to be a great flight!" Then, as soon after as I can, I give an Applause or two, saying "I just want to make sure I give you this now, because some times I forget on the way out." The result has always been better service for the entire cabin.
I have worked in many public facing jobs, and sometimes the day ahead looks very bleak. It only takes one person, who recognizes that even a normal day takes a lot of effort, to turn the whole experience around. Sometimes when I read threads like this I feel like the outlier who wants people who are doing their jobs competently to feel like someone appreciates them, as opposed to not deigning to acknowledge them because the reward is so slight as to insult them.