Anna booked a Christmas flight, and perhaps feeling a little guilty, she wants to show the flight attendants some love by providing some token gifts.
Her idea is to bake them some cookies or something, but she wants the hive mind’s advice on whether or not that’s OK to do.
She writes:
My son and I are flying on Christmas day this year, and I would like to do something nice for the flight attendants that work on our flights.I’m an avid baker and I was wondering if it would be kosher to bake cookies for the folks working on the plane? I wouldn’t want to put them in an awkward position or anything. So I guess my question is two-fold. 1. Is it acceptable to bring a small gift for the flight attendants? 2. Does that gift need to be prepackaged?
If you know whether or not it’s OK to give flight attendants gifts, please weigh in. I’d steer clear of the baked goods and probably go with gift cards.
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My friend is a frequent flier and an avid baker. He just told me a story of bringing freshly baked cookies to the employees in the lounge where he waits for his flights, and how much they loved them. He knows and talks to them on a regular basis though. I wonder if it would be different getting baked goods from a stranger. Maybe prepackaged commercial stuff is the way to go.
I think a gift card would be better. I wouldn’t have eaten anything handed to me by some strangers when I worked at the airport, to be honest. Even if they’re clean, everything in the area sure isn’t.
Just bring something for the poor rampers, too!
How big of a gift or tip do you have to give the TSA agent who gives you a reach around?
Tip ? Reach around? Giggity
I Flew ANC-BOS on Christmas a couple of years ago, and brought some local high-end chocolate candy for the crew. I was in First and gave it to the FA during a lull in service, telling her it was for the FAs and cockpit crew. DH is a pilot and I know how crappy it can be to have low seniority and have to fly on major holidays. As I left the plane at Logan she slipped me a very nice bottle of red wine!
I’m a flight attendant, and I can tell you this – While we’d appreciate it, my company(and most others) actually doesn’t allow us to accept gifts or gratuities while on duty. Most wouldn’t accept food on principle, too. The Best policy is to Ask your flight attendant what the game is with their airline on that score.
IF you see a Flight attendant coming off your flight and going in for a coffee, or the like, then offer to pay for their coffee – Make sure you tell them why!
No offense to any well-meaning passengers, but I’ve known some crew(Mostly young and female, admittedly, but a few guys, too) who get a little freaked out with people paying for their lunch or coffee with no explanation.
However, be nice, polite, use manners, wish us a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever other holiday you proscribe to. Essentially, just be good to us, and thank us, and if you do, tell us you appreciate what we do. We’re people too, y’know? We don’t like the TSA much, We get annoyed by even more BS from the airlines than you do, and really, it’s just nice to feel appreciated.
If you want to go the extra mile, then send in a compliment letter to the airline, mentioning the crew by name and flight number (Or failing that, use your flight number and time, Eg, “I’m just writing to let you know the staff on flight XYZ124 from A to B at This time were fantastic, and made the flight an enjoyable experience.”), because those do get back to us, and also, I will admit, the airline does take notice of these things.
I will add, however, that some FAs will still accept the gift, company policy or not.
I remember my dad (when he was a ubër frequent flier in first class) used to fill those out on the plane and the attendants were always very grateful (and he would usually get one of the ‘emergency travel kits’ in the transaction, but that’s beside the point
Back in 1996, I was flying out of town on the same day as my office Christmas potluck, so I had about half a pan’s worth of leftover brownies. I took them along to the airport and offered them to the flight attendants. Only one FA said no thanks — everyone else took a brownie, ate it on the spot, and thanked me profusely. And then the lead flight attendant heard about the brownie person from the other flight attendants, tracked me down, and reseated me and my husband in first class. It was an awesome flight.
I don’t know whether they are still allowed to accept homemade baked goods under current TSA rules, but you could certainly bring them something and this will probably make them happy. The worst case scenario is that they’ll politely decline.
The TSA has nothing to do with us, other than putting us though the security check before we get on the plane. We have absolutely nothing to do with them whatsoever in terms of policy or day to day operations, beyond that.
However – company policy would be against taking gifts or gratuities, and we are generally specifically warned about accepting foodstuffs from passengers. There have been incidents where FAs have been dosed by less well-meaning passengers, and now the blanket advice is “Don’t accept food from a stranger, and for the love of common bloody sense, don’t eat it.”
I’d just give her an gentle pat on the can and say, “Thanks for working Christmas, Toots.”
That sounds like a really sweet idea! I’m flying AirTran to BWI on the 22nd to see my family in Delaware and I just might pick up some Christmas Candy (Ferrero Roche truffles sounds like a good idea) while I’m out shopping tomorrow to hand to the crew on my flight. Of course, that means I’m going to have to use my jumbo size purse but its worth it to make someone’s day.
Showing such kindness to your flight attendant is one of the things that can really brighten a very long day for them. I would recommend bringing something that is packaged so that the flight crew can easily take it with them off the plane. They don’t always have time (usually don’t have time) to enjoy the item on board, so they can take it to their hotel if they are on a layover or back home if they are lucky enough to be heading home that evening.
If you are in a hurry though, often times a few chocolates will do the trick too. It really makes a flight attendants day, especially when they are working Christmas.
You rock!
I guess the only way any flight attendants are going to get my Bacardi 151-proof rum balls is if I become a flight attendant. But considering I’m probably past the cutoff age to be hired, that’s not going to happen. Oh well.
Candy canes. wrapped candy. I’d say just acknowledging “I’m sorry that I stuck you with a holiday flight, Would you like some candy?” is going to get you brownie points.
To avoid any kind of awkward situation i’d suggest a simple ‘Thank you’ card to show that you appreciate them. You might be surprised at the fantastic treatment/service you receive after that