I have a habit of giving bags of candy or chocolate to flight crews on long international flights. At first I did it to try and snare a better seat, which happened once.

But even better is that the CAs appreciate it. It's so easy to make people smile and feel better.

So I do it all the time now, and a year ago, the purser handed me a thank you card. I was really touched, and kept the card. A year later, on the same route, Tokyo to Dulles, I brought a thank you note for the crew, and swas stunned by the response. One of the cabin crew was humming up and down the aisles, and told me after the flight that it had made her month! I spent a grand total of 300 yen for a set of 10 small note cards and took five minutes to write it out. Holy smokes, was that a good return on my investment.

The UA crew also gave me a pair of pajamas -- which turned out to be extremely valuable since I was on my way to Florida and unprepared for it to be freezing cold. I typically get little gifts, but not always. But what I always get are smiles. It is so worth it.