When American Airlines instituted a $2 per bag charge for skycap service at Boston’s Logan Airport, the workers’ tip income dropped, some travelers seeing the change as a reason to stop tipping. A lawyer representing the workers sued American and a month ago a federal jury awarded them more than $325,000. In addition, the Massachusetts legislature recently enacted a law providing that businesses can be hit with triple damages in wage/hour disputes. Now American Airlines has decreed a complete ban on tipping at check-in at Logan, while also ordering its contractor to raise the skycaps’ wages from the former nominal $5.15 an hour to $12-$15, well above the minimum wage but well below what they had been getting in tips. The workers’ lawyer is of course charging retaliation and has asked a judge to forbid the change. (AP/Boston Herald, Boston Globe; Boston Herald editorial).
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Hey skycaps, who will you sue when a couple more airlines close up shop and thus have no gates to man at DFW, BWI, RDU, CLE, etc…? There’ll be like 20 caps at each curb-stop to service all 5 customers. That’ll be some serious bling to dice up.
Maybe those guys should call in the Rainbow-Push Coalition so they can talk things out.
Why didn’t the skyjacks put up signs saying something like “A SMALL TIP IS CONSIDERED CUSTOMARY IN ADDITION TO THE $2 FEE”. Or would have been this have been considered too rude somehow? Tipping is a strange, awkward custom and I wouldn’t be sorry to see it gone.