I don’t doubt it. If you have a family of four, and they each have a couple of big bags, and a few of them are a little overweight, that could easily be a $20 tip. From the family perspective, it’s a lot of effort saved for a relatively low cost.
I have almost always used the skycaps, and am happy to tip them for the extra convenience. Given a choice between having someone take my bags and give me a boarding pass at the curbside , versus walking inside with my bags and standing in line for 20-30 minutes, I’ll take the skycap any day.
Although now, many of the airlines are using kiosks inside the terminal to check in, where you specify how many bags you have, then they call you up to the counter to check your bags without having to wait in line.
The problem, here at BWI at least, is that sometimes the line for the outdoor check-in is just as long as the one for the indoor check-in. If i’m going to have to wait anyway, i’d prefer to be inside in air-conditioned surroundings (especially if it’s mid-winter or mid-summer), to see my bag actually hit the conveyor belt and be carried into the bowels of the airport, and to be assisted by an airline employee who can help me if i have any ticketing or seating problems.
You laugh, but one of my friends told me a story about how the garbagemen in Philadelphia would come around at Christmas and knock on your door for their yearly Christmas bonus. Failure to pay resulted in failure to pick up garbage.
So yeah, stuff like that does happen.
Altough the distinction has blurred over the years, in that Skycaps now have computer access and do more than just wheel luggage around (and in some airports the skycaps also have a conveyor belt to put your luggage on), it does appear, F. U. Shakespeare, that your interaction was with Skycaps.
Hey, you learned something here on the SD - good on you!
I use (and tip) Skycaps because the line is often (though not always!) shorter than inside at the counter and, because they’re not airline employees, they’re usually not so particular about overweight bags or one bag too many (important when taking display cases AND collateral AND suitcase to a trade show), especially if you proffer a $20, which is a LOT less than the airline charges for an extra bag. Money well spent for service provided, IMO.
never have tipped my mail deliverer or my garbageman, but if I’m gonna hand my luggage to someone I trust to put them with the right plane, darn right I’m gonna give him a couple bucks! L
So did your stuff end up in Alaska?
Hm, I tip our post humans, they give exceptional service [one time when I was having serious problems with pneumonia and hadn’t gotten my mail for 2 days, she brought the contents of my curbside box to the door to see if I was OK … so I made sure to at least appear in the window when I hear her drive up, which was no problem as my computer desk is by the front windows=) She is heavily into quilting, so she gets really opulent quilting quarters of the brocades, silks and velvets that we have around from making clothing for a historical re-enactment group. I make spare cash making elizabethan clothing for those who have no idea how to sew=)
Dont tip a garbageman per se, we take our garbage to the dump itself, but we do tend to take over a plate of assorted homemade cookies around the different hollidays.
I have a friend I visit in Germany and am close enough to that I keep clothing and toiletries there and only need to grab my carryon and laptop case to travel so I never check bags through anymore. But then again, I have a large rolling suitcase that I can pretty much manage alone as long as I don’t really have to lift it=)
As stated above, $1 per bag to the skycap is customary.
But the real reason for my post is to say, definitely put it on your expense account. I always did, my secretary did, my boss did, etc… Same deal with bell hops.
I had no idea that skycaps were not employed by the airline. (So who does employ them? The airport itself?)
I very rarely utilize the outdoor check-in option, which may be why this detail escaped my notice. These appear to be my reasons (now that I really think about it) for preferring to go on inside:[ul][]At the three airports that I use most frequently (Long Beach, Orange County, and LAX), one doesn’t really save much in terms of walking/lugging stuff by checking in outside. Outside check-in is on the same level as the ticket counters, perhaps 50 feet closer to the street.[]I have a casual perception that problems, should any occur, will be more easily dealt with at the ticket counter than outside. Perhaps this is inaccurate.[]The inside and outside lines usually appear to be about the same length.[]A few dollars is a few dollars. Since there’s normally no convenience gain (as I see it) from using the skycaps, what money I’d tip them with is wasted.[/ul]'Course, that automatic check-in option, when it’s available, beats either manned options. 
Just to dispell ignorance, that is inaccurate. 
Skycaps can issue your boarding passes, reschedule your flight for you, deal with any problems, keep you updated on weather conditions, delays, etc, etc, and they’re fantastic on cold days (when people are less willing to stand outside). I’ve used them even when I’m not checking bags, if the electronic kiosk lines are too long.
That makes it even more frightening then that they’re not employed by the airline and they have access to all of that information.
:rolleyes:
Exactly what kind of information are you afraid they’ll get? The time your flight lands? The only personal information your boarding pass contains is your name.
Baggage handlers are provided by outsourcing firms, assuming the US and the UK have a similar set-up.
What, in the name of Cecil, is a post human? A skeleton? Or is it some undead creature like a zombie or vampire? And what are they doing in your neighborhood? Even more befuddling, what sort of “exceptional service” do they provide? :eek:
:rolleyes: yourself.
I meant the fact that a non-airline employee would have access to the passenger lists of all flights.
The type of information that is supposed to be privy to the airline, only.
As others have said, you should definitely tip the skycap, though coming out and asking for it is pretty bad form on their part, IMO.
What I’m still iffy on is people that come to my house to install things or deliver appliances. Sometimes they do a lot of work (e.g. laying carpet for 2 days) and other times they are just dropping off a new chair. I am still torn between thinking that they should be tipped and that they shouldn’t be tipped. Usually I just offer them a cold soda…
Lame, I know.