I knew something was going to happen to my bag the moment I gave it to the curbside check-in guy at Newark airport. He made a big deal about how he was going to ‘look after my bag really well.’ I nodded my head and thanked him and after the third time he said it realised he was angling for a tip.
Tipping is something that I really hate about the US. I know that this guy is paid a pittance and probably needs the tips to be able to pay his rent. But it really, really bugs me that I have to pay someone just to do their job. Basically I’m subsidising United Airlines profits.
I had to guess what to give the guy – I mean, what’s 15% on a complimentary service? – and gave him $2. I don’t think it was enough because he gave me a funny look. When I got my luggage off the carousel at the airport in Richmond, Virginia, the lock was broken and my bag was gaping open.
I feared the worse. I’d put my laptop in that bag because I was sick of pulling it apart every time I went through a security check. Luckily it was still there. As was every thing else, albeit in a different place to where I’d packed it.
There was also a badly printed note from the Transport Security Administration. It said that my bag had been opened and physically checked to protect me and my fellow passengers. They sincerely regretted trashing my lock in the process but insisted they weren’t liable because it was a ‘necessary security precaution.’
I suspect the check-in guy has a mate working with the TSA and suggested he break into my bag. The broken lock was probably his way of getting me back for not tipping him more generously. I know this is going to make me sound like a bad person, but you know what? I’d rather spend the money on a new lock.
Now if it had been my laptop that had gone missing …
This is where you'll find everything you need to know about me and my books.
As someone who travels frequently through US airports, here are a few tips:
- Carry your own bags to the check-in counter, and depending on the airport/airline, you may have to wheel it over to the x-ray/bomb detection equipment yourself. Skycaps expect tips. Airline counter personnel and TSA employees don’t.
- Use a TSA approved lock. These locks have master keys that the TSA uses to unlock bags. Otherwise you risk having them cut the lock off your bags.
- NEVER put a laptop in checked luggage. Not only would it get flagged at x-ray and trigger a search, but you take a very big risk of getting your laptop damaged. The way they toss the bags around and place other heavy ones on top of your bag, you risk physical damage to the laptop as a whole and the liquid crystal display in particular, which can also crack due to the cold temperatures of the cargo hold on planes.
Thanks Fuat – that’s good advice. I’ll make sure the replacement lock is TSA approved and keep my laptop with me. It’s a little 11″ Vaio so it really isn’t that much of an imposotion!
I’m confused. Are we talking curbside check-in or a skycap? I thought it was curbside check-in… and didn’t think that required a tip. Or is there even such thing anymore as curbside check-in? I don’t travel much domestically, and when I do, it usually involves arriving by train.
It was curb-side check-in. And I’ve used it every flight I’ve taken on this trip and that was the first time I was worked for a tip.
OK, I just got the lowdown from the Delta check-in counter at Richmond. (Inside – not curbside!)
The guys on the curb aren’t allowed to ask you for tips but the custom is to tip them a dollar a bag, two at most. (More if you have lots of bags.)
So I think what happened was that when I called the guy on asking me for a tip – my exact words were ‘Are you angling for a tip?’ – he got a little aggravated by that. My $2 tip was actually on the generous side.
A quick question: Is it considered bad form to empty your pockets of small change to pay a tip? It’s just I’ve got a scrap metal yard in myleft hand pocket.
Re: tipping with coins. Since US coin denominations are small (excluding the rarely used 1 dollar coins), most places where you hand a tip you would use one or more bills rather than a handful of change. The exceptions are typically things like tipping for a cup of coffee, dropping change into a tip jar at a cash register (though I frequently ignore those), or when you compute a precise 15% or 20% tip for something like a cab fare and don’t feel like rounding up.
I’ve occasionally tipped with $1 coins and have gotten looks from people thinking they only got a quarter (they’re about the same size), so now I make sure to only use the gold $1 coins instead of the older silver coloured Susan B. Anthony ones.
P.S. I’m Fuat, not Callia.