Now Flight Attendants Have to Hustle for Tips - WSJ

They have to herd grumpy passengers, serve drinks, soothe nerves, endure the pain of unpredictable air travel and save lives in an emergency. And now they have to solicit tips and commissions to supplement their pay?

The primary role of flight attendants is passenger safety. But it’s becoming more of a sales job. Airlines now incentivize flight attendants to hawk credit cards and peddle food and beverages for tips from passengers.

Some passengers see the changes, particularly tipping, as airline attempts to shift some crew costs from companies to passengers—one more fee, this time for cabin service.

On Jan. 1 Frontier Airlines began allowing individual flight attendants to collect tips from passengers, something most other airlines discourage. Just like at a coffee shop or taxi cab, buttons for tip amounts appear when Frontier passengers swipe their credit cards. Since Frontier charges for sodas and snacks, the tips can add up. The airline started tipping three years ago and split gratuities among crew members. Now each flight attendant gets to keep his or her own tips.

American, United, Delta, Spirit, Frontier and others have flight attendants making in-cabin pitches for credit cards tied to each airline’s frequent-flier program. The card issuer pays commissions at different rates, generally around $50 or more for an approved application.

Airlines won’t disclose numbers on the credit-card pitches, but they sell a lot. American says it makes the sales pitch voluntary for its flight attendants, but a majority participate because commissions can add up.

“It’s successful because there are people on every flight who want to take advantage of the offer,” says Jill Surdek, American’s vice president of flight service.

Reaction among flight attendants is mixed. While many appreciate the extra income, some believe it downgrades their work. Some worry tipping opens the workforce to more sexual harassment—an already common problem.

“We don’t need people who are charged with keeping peace in the cabin, keeping everyone safe, put in a position where they feel like their compensation is dependent on keeping people happy for the wrong reasons,” says Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, the largest flight attendants’ union, and a United flight attendant.

Several airlines promoting the selling do discourage flight attendants from accepting tips. Instead, they give frequent travelers coupons to hand out to workers in recognition of good service. The coupons earn rewards or enter employees in prize drawings.

At Frontier, flight attendant Jennifer Sala, president of the AFA’s Frontier unit, says about half of the workforce likes the tips and has come to rely on the extra income. The other half is offended.

“It’s humiliating to us,” says Ms. Sala, who opposes the tipping. “I wasn’t trained to sell drinks. I was trained to save your life.”

The union contends Frontier changed its tipping policy to pacify flight attendants who have gone without a raise during more than three years of contract negotiations. The union worries Frontier means for the tips to constitute increased income. Frontier denies the tips are connected to the contract.

The tipping screen comes up after a credit-card swipe on tablets used for in-flight sales. Customers see buttons for a 10%, 15% and 20% gratuity, plus an option to enter a customized amount and a button saying you prefer not to tip. Making a selection on that screen takes you to a signature page. Flight attendants who don’t want to ask for tips simply tap the prefer-not-to-tip button before handing the tablet to a passenger for signature, Frontier says.

Tipping income is fairly consistent, Ms. Sala says, though flights to vacation destinations like Las Vegas and Cancún usually carry bigger tippers. Red-eye flights are the worst for tipping. Credit-card sales do much better on flights to and from new cities where passengers haven’t had interest in Frontier before.

The tipping program has resulted in “millions of dollars” in tips since its inception three years ago, according to Frontier spokesman Jonathan Freed, but the company won’t get more specific.

A small number of travelers have for years rewarded flight attendants with small gifts, such as chocolates and gift cards. Mark Rubinstein carries $5 Starbucks gift cards and hands them out to crew members who provide exceptional service or are working on holidays.

“It’s just a nominal thing, but the response you get is way out of proportion to what you’re giving them,” says Mr. Rubinstein, a semiretired real estate investor from Detroit.

One flight attendant wrote him a thank-you note on the spot, he says. He typically does it at the end of a flight. “I’m not looking for special treatment,” he says.

Frequent fliers complain the credit-card pitches, typically made near the end of flights, interrupt sleep and suspend in-flight entertainment.

“It’s very irritating,” says Anant Khanolkar, a sales executive based in the Boston area who travels frequently. He suggested in a post on the travel message board FlyerTalk that frequent fliers take applications, write “Please stop doing this” on the form and turn it in.

Travelers also complain that flight attendants sometimes stray off-script and make inaccurate claims about the deals they are offering. Some say the offer is good only on that flight or that day to pressure sign-ups. Others mistakenly assert a 50,000-mile sign-up bonus will score two tickets anywhere the airline flies. Frequent fliers have complained to American that flight attendants still say the card will get holders Group 1 boarding when it’s actually Group 5 under the current boarding regime.

Jason Jones, a mortgage company executive in Austin, Texas, heard one flight attendant on American suggest that each authorized user on an account would get a 50,000-mile bonus. Only one bonus is paid, to the primary cardholder.

“I work in a consumer-lending business where false or misleading statements would be subject to regulatory action,” he says.

Ms. Surdek at American says she hasn’t heard many complaints, but when the company does, it reminds the flight attendant involved to stick to the approved script. She also notes that the applications spell out the rewards in writing.

Many airlines, including American, United and Delta, have dumped onboard duty-free sales. Airlines were unable to compete with the expanded and enticing duty-free malls in airports and the cart of merchandise carried onboard took up space and added weight to aircraft, increasing fuel burn.

Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Mark Rubinstein is a semiretired real estate investor from Detroit. An earlier version of this article spelled his name incorrectly. (Jan. 23, 2019)

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