adampenrith

My better half is a limo driver and also a funeral director, he often gets a nice tip from his limo customers - $20 or $50 or sometimes $100 depending on the job, for regular customers sometimes its a good bottle of scotch during the holidays.

For Funerals - the Chinese give out lucky money, which can vary between $5 to $100, and some families who really appreciate the service provided will stop by the office a week or two later with a gift - maybe some Chivas - one family gave us a bonsai they grew

If you use this pilot often - you may have picked up on some of his interests, so maybe some tickets to a game, or a coaching session with the golf pro, the idea here to that you have spent a few moments of your time to plan something special for him. Maybe put the tip in an envelope with a hand written note saying how much you appreciate his proffesionalism and services provided.

By the way we live in Australia where tipping is not entrenched

mecabq

+1 A corollary to this is that I only tip blue-color employees. So the limo driver, yes, but probably not the private jet pilot. (I guess a hotel concierge and a professional tour guide are borderline; I always tip the latter.) I agree that a business gift at the end of the year is probably more appropriate; perhaps a nice case of scotch that he may share with you at 30,000 feet.

Great thread.

cascade

Definitely not expected. Small tokens would definitely be appreciated, but don't expect him to drink scotch with you at altitude...do you want your pilot buzzed as you fly through the air in a pressurized metal tube at 500+ mph?

TravelerMSY

No tips. A lavish Christmas gift would be ok.

airventure

I'm a corporate pilot so hopefully I can shed some light on this. However, I'm a little confused as to the actually arrangement of your travels. Hopefully this is a legitimate charter company (Part 135), not just some guy that owns an airplane and your company is paying him to fly you around (illegal). It could also be a fractional (Part 91k), but unlikely since the owner is actually flying the plane. Seriously, this is something you'll want to verify for your company.

Here's a breakdown

Part 91 - You or your company owns the airplane. Do what you feel necessary to keep your pilots happy. This is includes myself. I'm salaried and have never gotten cash tips, but I have been given bonuses for going above and beyond.

Part 91k Fractional - You own part of the plane and may see multiple different pilots throughout your travels. Tipping again isn't expected, but would be a generous way to reward good service.

Part 135 Charter - These guys are providing a service much like a taxi or limo driver. Tipping under these circumstances is more common, but not required. Don't tip through your broker. Your pilots will never see that money.

When tipping keep in mind:
-difficult weather that day (hot, cold, wind, fog, storms)
-friendliness of service
-cleanliness of cabin
-helping with bags, food, beverage
-type of equipment (prop, turboprop, jet)

If you decide to tip, I'd say a good tip range would be $20-$100 per pilot per trip. Longer trips you'll want to tack on a little extra. I have heard of pilots receiving well over $1000 in tips.

P.S. Keep in mind your average pilot may have payed as much as $100,000 to go through a collegiate flight school. It's not uncommon for co-pilots in these fields to be making as little as $20k/year. Also, do forget they probably have at least one ex-wife

Kevin AA

Lordy I hope not! Does your pilot make $2.13/hour?

Kevin AA

A tip for flying through difficult weather? Why? Is it to reward the pilot for not crashing and killing everyone, thus eliminating any possibility of a tip?

How much someone paid for their training and how many ex-wives they have has zip to do with tips. If you paid a million dollars for training and have 6 ex-wives and 22 love children, that's your problem, not mine.

airventure

As for the weather...I don't know about you, but when I tip somebody I take into consideration the amount of workload it took to do the job. On a beautiful day, my workload isn't much more than a typical drive through traffic. On a crummy day I'd compare it being in a NASCAR race...in heavy fog. I don't tip my UPS driver when he drops off a tiny box at my house, but I'll go out of my way to tip him for lugging a huge box up to my old 3rd story apartment. Tip the UPS guy to reward him for doing a difficult job? Shockingly, yes!

As for the debt...You'll notice I posted this in the P.S. section with a smiley face. It was certainly a bit tongue and cheek, with a tinge of truth. Go ahead and pay the cute, single-mom, pregnant waitress a bit more than usual, but don't worry about the highly trained pilot, whose income could be about the same, and who has your life in his hands. A little compassion goes a long way in life.

Overall...like I said over and over, tipping is not expected in the profession. You certainly don't have to tip Occasionally, our passengers will pull me aside for an honest thank you and a handshake. That's worth more than any tip I've ever gotten.

Calchas

I try to shake the hand of the (co-)pilot when I get off a scheduled commercial flight. Usually they are nowhere to be seen but once or twice I've managed to say "Nice landing!" in bad weather.
Actually the last time I did that was a RyanAir flight, one where we actually had a smooth touchdown(!) in high winds. The guy wore an expression as though I'd written him into my will, but probably he gets that every day.