SuperFlyBoy

Well, some people fly on the same route quite regularly, and so do the crew - such as on the EWR-BOM-EWR United direct flights - I meet the same (rotated of course) FAs on this sector almost 90% of the time without fail - as they are senior enough to grab this long flight (and hours) in order to fly as few flights as possible...

Understand some pax (whom I have sat next to) "commute" to India in some form of fashion - and it's really an incredibly relaxing flight as well.

However, I haven't given them any gifts - and still get good to great service...

Yes, just this seems to do the job on the above flight - an ex-Continental sector, where the crew took pride in the service they provided earlier, now watered-down by United.

+1.

HIDDY

Here giving your postman/binman/newspaper boy a present is seen as odd yet giving your lawyer/accountant/doctor a present is normal even after they've charged you a ruddy fortune for their services. I'd give them sod all if it was up to me but I'm British. So I can accept why some people like to give cabin crew a present.

SuperFlyBoy

Wow - reinforces the divide I see over there...

Fabo.sk

I'm in the "maybe on Christmas" camp.

Doing it on a random flight would range from weird to seriously creepy IMO, depending on the gift contents and the time and manner of gift giving.

On Christmas, or similarly significant local celebration (Diwali? Chinese New Year? Maybe), I can see something like a box of chocolates to share, as a token of appreciation that those poor sods have to work so that this poor sod can travel (still in all likelihood, this poor sod would really really prefer not to travel on Christmas just as well)

London_traveller

It's interesting how cultural sensitivity in this context tends to be mono-directional. When I travel I'll be more sensitive to the surroundings in which I find myself. Which is why I've always tipped generously in a bar in New York, but never in Japan.

If crew tipping was a 'thing' on a particular airline/location (for crew you don't know/at the start of a flight) then I'd be minded to do it, but otherwise, why be insensitive to the situation one finds oneself in?

A good BA crewmember? - seek out the CSD/CSM and tell them personally, and/or fill in a ba.com/welldone form after (I'm assuming either of these will have an impact of some sort).

1Aturnleft

Yes the same ☺
If you read my previous post on this thread, I said I would be (and am) comfortable presenting after the service if that far it had been above par.

By that time several hours in to a flight, some form of rapport has usually been built with at least one crew member so it doesn't feel awkward (to me) to present such a trivial token at that point. As opposed to at the boarding door to a total stranger.

I don't always see the same nursing team each visit nor is there any guarantee I'll have met the one treating me that day. So what. It's only cheap fun size chocolate, not diamonds or cash.

Although I do have a funny story about cash tips from a woman I know who used to fly as crew for Airtours! Maybe another time I'll share that one☺

Orange.Man

Yes,

I love it. The crews I work with love it.

It's not being creepy, it's being nice. You don't know what the flight out or back was like for the crew, sometimes a box / bag of chocolates and just make their day so much better.

corporate-wage-slave

Is there a view as to whether to go posh or not? E.g. will a box of Celebrations do the trick better than Hotel Chocolat?

Orange.Man

I don't know about BA, we'll accept anything.

MrsW

I wouldn’t take a gift with me for the crew but recently I was connecting at CDG. The cabin crew on my arriving flight had given me an unopened bottle of vino which I couldn’t take through security. I gave it to a member of security staff, asking her if she was allowed to keep it to save me from trashing it. She seemed genuinely pleased to be given a little gift.

Perhaps they all go through the bucket of bottled water, suncream, perfume, vino etc and divvy them up at the end of the day when the airport closes anyway......

PUCCI GALORE

I think that no wrong or right answers. Personally, I like to show appreciation of good work and pleasant demeanour. A genuine « Thank you for looking after me/us today » is quite enough. Actually not treating the crew as The Hired Help is good as well. Remember on CIHY’s flights ( you’ll know it’s him on boarding if there’s a walking aid in the background) don’t give chocolate, his uniform barely fits as it is.

subject2load

Has to be class-based, surely ..... ??

F : Hotel Chocolat

J : Celebrations

Y : Woolworths pick n' mix *

*edit : oops .... no more Woolies (more's the pity ..... )

subject2load

@1aTurnleft - many thanks for coming back ^

I did check your earlier post, and yes, I did miss your point on the matter of 'timing' of the gift. Apologies for that.

Personally I can't see myself doing this at the end of a flight any more than I would at the start. But each to their own I guess, as already said.

Globaliser

But what if you're flying from CPT or JNB?

corporate-wage-slave

Or Sydney for that matter.

Though in true BA FT style, one could of course steal borrow a few handfuls from the jars in CCR JFK.