TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Another wheelchair question

When you use a wheelchair, I would assume it's customary to tip the attendant. Just curious as to the appropriate amount?

Tipping is a very individual thing. For me, it depends on how long the person is with me and what they do. I do not recall ever tipping less than $5, and usually it is $10. The exception was one time in Miami that was totally f*ed up, when I had to deal with three SEPARATE wheelchair folks. I think they each got $5. Usually the folks in SXM go with us to the baggage claim and retrieve bags and also help us out to our waiting car rental guy. Tipping in SXM on arrival is between $10=$20, depending on how long they are with us. When we leave SXM it's usually $10. If the person needs someone to physically lift a chair down the stairs, that would be more. We have always found the folks in SXM to be well worth the tip. In other places, not so much sometimes.

I agree with Carol. We started out tipping too much, $20 to gate at JFK, then $5 to plane door.
We tipped $20 to luggage in SXM.
I think $10 is a reasonable amount if it is just that and they don't stay with you and do extra errands.

It’s a personal gesture based upon the attitude of the attendant and the attention and service he provides. We are generally more generous both arriving and departing in SXM because I find their service to be exceptional. The exact dollar amount usually depends on whether we remembered to get adequate cash or not but never less than $25.00. I don’t know if that’s enough or not since I’ve never seen or heard of a tipping guide but they’ve always graciously accepted our offering and have enthusiastically thanked us for it. 🙂🙂

Their assistance has been a huge help for me. I appreciate it so much and I tip $20. I had a young man assist me in Philadelphia. He was new, apparently, and obviously did not want to be there. However, when I tipped him $20 his attitude changed, he smiled, and said that this would help a lot....Made me feel good !

Pat, you had mentioned that they stayed with you and brought you to rest areas and food places.
That is a call beyond the normal, and a generous tip I'm sure is appreciated. We only had the one chair

We gave the gentleman who waited for us while they almost body searched me and our case even more than usual---the poor man!! LOL
TSA should have paid me!!

i usually tip 10.

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Pat, you had mentioned that they stayed with you and brought you to rest areas and food places.
That is a call beyond the normal, and a generous tip I'm sure is appreciated. We only had the one chair
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To clarify, upon arrival the wc porter met us on the plane and took us off and wheeled us across the tarmac to the arrival area where he saw us through to the baggage claim area and retrieved our bags before wheeling us out to the curb where Lesley Bruce was waiting for us.

Upon departure, Lesley got us a wc porter at the curb to see us through the check-in line and baggage check process and through each of the other security stages and then to the upstairs jetway area. He offered us stops at the food line and the restrooms on the way. Because we had such a long wait he left us parked there but returned a couple of times to make sure we were okay.

I honestly can’t sing their praises loud enough. Courteous and smiles all the way. And certainly worth a generous tip for their services.

Pat’s description of the wheelchair experience and dealings with Lesley were exactly the same as ours in late Nov, early Dec. Word for word, almost identical. Kudos to the WC folks and to Lesley and Shirley.

Can someone give me an idea of a ‘good tip’ for arrivals? $10, $20, ?

We normally have tipped between 10 and 20, depending on how long the guy is with us. Now, with the cluster in arrivals, I don't know if they are sticking around for the whole time when people are waiting for bags or not.

I would say it would depend on what exactly they needed to do for you, such as stop for the bathroom, stop for food, wait for your luggage and then take it to your transportation, etc. Mine took me from the plane through immigration and then left me in the luggage area, in the wheelchair, as we had a long, long wait ahead of us, and I was mobile. We never saw him again. I think my husband gave him $5. If he had needed to do any of the above, it would have definitely been a larger amount.

I just arrived yesterday, 5 weeks from a hip replacement surgery. The wheelchair service was excellent yesterday. He scooted us right to the beginning of the line for immigration then parked me at the luggage claim. He pretty much stayed with me the whole time. While it was good that I went to the beginning of the line for immigration, we had to wait as Spirit had beat the American flight so we had to wait for the luggage from Spirit before the Miami flight's luggage came out. All in All, he was great and I gave him $20.

Wingman--glad you arrived ok. Looking forward to hearing some reports from "home" at BSV!!

Not sure of Wheelchair tipping but we always tip the porter $20.00 for carting our checked luggage over to the Hertz rntal van.

I tipped $20 cuz he was excellent. Didn’t stay with me the whole time but that was fine with me. He did keep checking back and updating me with where Delta was in the luggage queue and he brought my bag out to the car. Money well spent in my view

I always tip $20 when in SXM and Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, they have quite a long distance and have to go through TSA on the departure. Coming home in Philadelphia, although we have global entry, they wait with us while we get our checked bag and we travel on Saturdays, so those young men could be out Saturday night, but they’re working so it’s definitely worth $20. And then in SXM they get us through C & I one way and wait while we get our checked bag, and TSA going home. I’ve never had one of those assistants who been unpleasant.

In SXM, I have never had anything but extremely pleasant experiences. In Miami?? That's another deal, although last trip they were very on the ball, for a nice change.

The time I needed a wheelchair with a broken leg in MIA manyyears ago it was a pleasant experience. Not sure how it is now.