Flight attendants on Frontier Airlines will no longer have to pool their tips, meaning any additional income they get is subject to individual passengers.
Bloomberg reported Monday that the low-cost airline used to split tips on each flight, but as of Jan. 1, gratuities won't be pooled. The airline introduced tipping in 2016. Passengers have the option of leaving a gratuity through digital tablets after placing orders for food and drinks.
"We appreciate the great work of our flight attendants and know that our customers do as well, so (the payment tablet) gives passengers the option to tip," Frontier spokesman Jonathan Freed told Bloomberg Friday. "It's entirely at the customer's discretion, and many do it."
The Los Angeles Times reported that, according to Freed, the change at the Denver-based airline was made at flight attendants' request.
“We view tips as additional compensation over and above flight attendants’ contractual wages.”
One fight attendants union isn’t a fan of the policy, however.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 flight attendants with 20 airlines -- including Frontier -- opposes tipping and objected to the introduction of doing so three years ago.
"Management moved forward with a tipping option for passengers in hopes it would dissuade flight attendants from standing together for a fair contract — and in an effort to shift additional costs to passengers," union President Sara Nelson told Bloomberg.
"Regardless of the tip issue, Frontier Airlines needs to step up and pay aviation's first responders a wage that recognizes their critical safety role onboard," Nelson told the LA Times.
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