Originally Posted by fastflyer
CO has replied:
"Thank you for contacting Presidents Club.
Tipping is up to your discretion."
Both programs confirm -- no mandatory expectation of tipping either in the US or abroad. Also, considering that the staff at many lounges are airline employees (rather than contract bartenders), the sub-minimum-wage exception would not apply.
But the point is tipping is always at the customer's discretion; I have never written otherwise.
As far as the employees being airline employees, this fact alone hardly means they are well compensated.
Although I deeply doubt they are paid the $2.13/hr minimum wage, they are almost certainly non-union and very low paid.
Plenty of union flight attendants with major airlines earn less than $20,000/year, so the likelihood is that a non-union bartender at an Admiral's Club or a President's Club probably earns about $12,000-$15,000/year before tips (at the most).
That's not a living wage without tips.
Still, there is never any obligation to tip, anywhere. Clearly.