Flight Attendants Aren’t Waitresses in the Sky
Frontier Airlines now allows direct tipping. That’s only going to make cabin crew and passengers less safe.
The world’s first eight flight attendants took to the air in May 1930. They were all nurses, hired by Boeing Air Transport (forerunner to United Airlines, Inc.) to give early-era air passengers a greater sense of security onboard. As air travel became safer over the ensuing decades, nurses were no longer required in the cabin. Safety and security, though, remained the primary statutory role of the flight attendant, even as passengers and airlines increasingly expected them to perform like servers at top-end restaurants.
On Jan. 1, low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines, Inc., broke with that tradition. Henceforth, flight attendants on Frontier flights will be allowed to solicit tips directly from passengers. Frontier argues that the change in policy will reward flight attendants for offering excellent customer service. In reality, tipping on planes — like tipping in restaurants — will bear little relationship to service quality. More importantly, it’ll make passengers and flight attendants less safe.