Jolley78MT
FNG
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2022
- Messages
- 10
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There is no real consensus on tipping pilots. Most will confess they don't tip at all. Those who do say they are treated very well by their pilots before and after they tip. Smooths the gears IMO. Shows good faith and appreciation, which goes a long way still.
If you can do 10% of your total bill you'd be in classy shape. If you can only do a few hundoes still a good idea. Those who fly frequently start to develop their own way of tipping over years of flying with a pilot. I gave one of my favs a 4-season tent worth $600 because he didn't have one and needed it soon. Gave another a used raft because he needed one. Still others get whatever I can afford or sense they could use. Hope this helps
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I also never had clients that promised to send me pictures, actually send. Even after persistently asking. Never got that.I was a pilot for a transporter for several years. As such, I never even knew what the company charged for the flights. I could have easily found out but didn't. Figuring out some percentage of the cost of the flight never crossed my mind.
Like anyone, I appreciated a tip but never expected one. $100-$200 was great.
The company set the cost of the flights and paid me fairly. I was fine with that.
One thing that does stand out in my mind... many clients over the years had me do fly-by's with their trophy antlers on the wings or floats or me air dropping them extra candy bars, etc. and always promised to send me some photos's of it, or cool video's that they got. Never, in all the years did anyone follow thru. I was always disappointed in that.
I was in that plane, possibly within a few days of you! It crashed with another group while we were in the field...where we remained for 15 nights because they were down an aircraft and heavily booked. Honestly can't recall if we tipped on the way in, but we damned sure did on the way out-different pilot of course. And have tipped $200-500 per trip ever since.The one time I hunted out of Bethel, our pilot didn't bother weighing us or our payload and it took him three attempts just to get off the water. Once airborne we started losing altitude. I could see panic on his face before the airspeed increased, and the rest of the flight was uneventful. After we were dropped off, the same plane and pilot picked up three big guys who just finished their hunt. They crashed into the trees on takeoff. That operator had three different plane crashes that year. Needless to say, I didn't tip.
I was in that plane, possibly within a few days of you! It crashed with another group while we were in the field...where we remained for 15 nights because they were down an aircraft and heavily booked. Honestly can't recall if we tipped on the way in, but we damned sure did on the way out-different pilot of course. And have tipped $200-500 per trip ever since.