On a Delta flight to Las Vegas, passenger Jonathan Price filmed himself boarding and offering gifts to the crew. He was handing out cash and candy – he’s holding multiple $100 bills fanned out together with Ghirardelli cCaramel chocolate bars. It looks like six sets, matching four flight attendants and two pilots.
The crew reacts, That is so sweet… thank you…” while someone remarks it’s “chocolates and cheese” (cheese isn’t obvious in the video). Over the aircraft’s PA, the pilot says the landing was dedicated to the Price family, and wishes them luck in Vegas.
During deplaning, the video shows a pilot at the cockpit door and includes the caption:
Captain dedicated the best landing ever to me & my family ❤️
Be nice to your crew this holiday season!!
byu/Snooopineapple indelta
The filmer asks the pilots: “Do you have any trading cards?” and he gets some.
Overwhelmingly, commenters online hate the filming, not the act of being kind.
- “This is gross/cringe because it’s performative.” Most of the top comments are variations on “the second you film it, it’s not nice anymore,” “bragging,” “social media was a mistake,” etc.
- “Possible quid-pro-quo / buying favors.” A few people interpret the cash/gifts as effectively trying to purchase better treatment (free drinks/snacks, etc.).
- Policy/ethics questions. Some ask whether Delta allows accepting gifts. Cash and gift cards are generally problematic. I’d add that “candlesticks always make a nice gift”.
- Although a few suggest that “Even if it’s cringe, the crew benefits,” and “I’d rather people film being nice than not be nice.”
Airlines don’t generally allow employees to accept tips. It creates bad incentives. Even if nobody asked for perks, cash looks like you’re trying to purchase discretion, freebies, or attention. If you want a trading card, just ask for a trading card—don’t stack incentives.
They’re in a service role and the correct way to engage and appreciate is to be nice. You can submit a compliment through airline contact procedures, which is a stronger signal than a box of chocolates without ethics problems or putting the crew at risk.
People in general have miserable lives and thus have to crap on anything others do.
Crap thing is i am pretty sure their policy is cant accept anything above xxx in value and 100 dollars is way over that amount. He literally could get the crew members fired by posted it.
See: Snyder v. United States, 603 US 1 (2024). Bribery is legal, just call it ‘lobbying’ or a ‘gratuity.’ However, the court of public opinion has no rules. It’s the Thunderdome. Always has been.
Anytime someone records themself engaged in what is supposed to be an act of kindness and generosity and then lists it in social media, I always wonder what their motivation is.
Yes, I’m a (healthy) skeptic, but one has to wonder, are you doing it because it’s a kind thing to do, or are you doing it for attention, notoriety and branding?
Regardless, I’m sure the crew appreciated the gesture. If it made them feel valued, I guess that’s what really matters.
100% Gross. Had he not filmed it, it would be fine. Humiliating for the crew.
Company policy is explicit that to accept a gift with more than “nominal” value is grounds for termination.
All this guy did was show off and put the employees in an awkward situation.
The combination of Las Vegas and December makes this seem not so outrageous and mostly just a nice, fun thing to do. Kinda wish it was for a United short-haul flight, since that’s the kind of flight the underpaid, newer FAs work and I believe they’re going through extensive contract crap. But then, I tend to overthink these things.
I thought that maybe he was trying to win the one of the cards that agents can hand out to celebrate acts of kindness. He should have got one regardless.
If some dude wants to hand out $100 bills to crew what business is it of anyone? Maybe shut your pie hole and let flight attendants, not exactly paid the big bucks, have a trip to remember.
Maybe hand out the chocolate with the $100 bill not visible? Solves a lot of problems.
The solution is not to stop being generous to flight crew if you are so inclined. The solution is to stop filming it. Also, consider the other airline and airport workers that make travel possible. They are also underpaid and underappreciated.
Maybe just hand out anything – I don’t care what – and don’t film it, this making it an actual act of kindness instead all about you. It’s not generosity or kindness if you’re trying to get attention and “wow- look at me!” Clicks.
@George Romey — We can always count on you for a bad Boomer ‘hot take.’
Tipping has already permeated almost every aspect of American life anyway.
I hate people who feel the need to record themselves doing this. Turn off the camera, then be nice.
Btw, author, cheese means money. Not actual cheese.
@1990
Uh, you are just misinformed. As much as I dislike Delta– and there’s a lot of reasons to dislike Delta– they have pretty tight rules regarding “alternate compensation”. This $100 is WAAAY over the dollar limit in any “nominal exchange of value” situation.
The crew members’ careers are literally imperiled for some “internutter” stunt.
So today “thought leadership” is “what did the commenters say?”.
Got it.
Never take candy from strangers. Enough said.
Kind gestures are not done often enough.
I assume the guy filming does it to get views and therefore money, more money than he paid for the gifts. Whether the people comment with hate or love, he still gets paid. I didn’t click to watch it, so he got nothing from me.
” A few people interpret the cash/gifts as effectively trying to purchase better treatment (free drinks/snacks, etc.).”
Wait, so you think he’s handing out candy (a snack) and cash with the hope of getting a drink? What kind of logic is that? If he wanted drinks and snacks….well, he had money to buy them.
Character is defined by what you do when no one is paying attention or would even notice.
“They’re in a service role and the correct way to engage and appreciate is to be nice. You can submit a compliment through airline contact procedures, which is a stronger signal than a box of chocolates without ethics problems or putting the crew at risk.””””Ehm, barbers, taxi drives, serving staff in restaurants, hotel staff and plethora of others are in the service roles too, yet no one questions why or whether we tip them…So the so-called “ethicists” should kiss their own butts with such moralizing.
I bet he didn’t tip the lady being paid minimum wage to wipe his seat down in the waiting area. I bet he didn’t tip the person emptying the trash bins. Those fueling the plane and checking the engine maintenance didn’t get anything…
Tipping culture is out of control. It benefits only the people who do the least, the ones with the most contact with the customers, who are paid to give smiles.
Meanwhile the people with the dirtiest hands and the ones who go home the most exhausted at the end of the day get nothing.
Why should I tip the person who’s paid to give me a smile, while the one who is most responsible for my safety and a smooth experience gets nothing?
I mean…..I get it but drinks and snacks and even trading cards are free on Delta anyway. Well maybe not all alcoholic drinks but if you’re in first class, they generally are. Only so much favor he’s going to get. It was a nice gesture. Lighten up.
“Life is like a box of chocolates…”
I have no problem with giving the lead FA/Purser a bag/box of chocolates to share with the crew — especially around the holidays. It’s just a gesture of appreciation, and something I have done upon occasion over the past 30 years of flying. Typically it’s on a long haul flight; typically it’s around the holidays. I can think of only two times (maybe three) in 30 years where I received something “back” in return: I was once asked (and accepted) a move from my aisle seat with 29″ of pitch to an aisle seat in the exit row, and once or twice, I was offered a free drink (which I would have received anyway due to status had I picked a seat in PE but I chose the exit row).
I *do* have a problem with the cash…that isn’t “nice,” that’s bribery. It’s the same with filming yourself — as someone said on social media: “the second you film it, it’s not nice anymore.” It becomes “Hey, look what I did; aren’t I great?” Self-aggrandizement is never pretty; it’s obnoxious.
Nobody talk about handing over food to the crew… do they have the imperious order not to eat that food during the flight (or any flight for that matter)? Temptation…
The bottom line is that the airline policy prohibits that kind of cash. The fact that the crew accepted it and then dedicated the landing to this cringe attention rhymes with four is the real problem. Don’t blame the video if you get fired. Blame yourself for being unprofessional. Bad behavior all around.
To me, acts of kindness are like reading the bible and supporting charities, do not turn it into a show.
It’s always about “See me!” look at what I have done. And there it is…on Tick Tock. Whenever I donate anything I do it anonymously. Or, if in person, quietly.
Anyone handing out $100 bills and expecting an airline service favor in return is misplacing their money. Obviously they aren’t doing it for that, it’s all about the clicks. $600 in handouts can be flipped into 5 figures if posted to the right service. Thank you to the Price’s perhaps, but the Price’s are thanking social media.
Maybe someone also said it but Cheese = Money (Nobody 1)
Thanks for wiritng, “Candlesticks always make a nice gift.” I’ve been saying that since I first saw “Bull Durham” and immediately knew where it came from.
Good taste in fast and cheap chocolate.
Flight attendants have a stressful job. They face hundreds of grumpy people every day, and if they dare to punch someone who really deserved it, THEY get in trouble.
Comfortably well-heeled people usually aren’t ostentatious in generosity. This guy comes off as a prole, but it’s his job to create an image.