American Airlines bans skycap tips after losing lawsuit

(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe/file)

American Airlines skycap Don DiFiore checked baggage at Logan International Airport in December for Alice Whooley (left) and her mother, Pat Whooley, for a flight to Hawaii.

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

American Airlines is stepping up its legal feud with skycaps who work at Logan International Airport over the tips they receive.

Nearly four weeks after a federal jury ordered the carrier to pay a group of nine skycaps more than $325,000 in lost tips, American Airlines announced this morning that it has asked the trial judge to throw out the jury verdict. The airline also said that it has immediately banned the tipping of skycaps, who help passengers check in baggage at the curb at a charge of $2 a bag.

"American's customers in Boston who wish to utilize the convenience of curbside check-in can still do so and pay the existing $2 per bag check-in fee collected by American or its third-party vendor, G2 Services,'' the airline said in a statement. "However, tipping will no longer be allowed.''

The airline also said that G2 Services, the direct employer of most American Airlines skycaps, is raising the employees' pay to $12 to $15 an hour, well above the state’s $8-an-hour minimum wage. Most of the skycaps currently earn $5.15 an hour.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, the Boston employment lawyer who helped try the federal case that resulted in the victory for the skycaps on April 7, said American's request to throw out the verdict was routine, but the no-tipping policy was a stunning and illegal retaliatory act against the skycaps.

"American doesn't seem to understand what it is they lost in court,'' she said.

Liss-Riordan said the jury agreed that the $2-per-bag fee belongs to the skycaps, yet the airline has continued to keep the money. The jury also agreed that the fee, which the airline imposed in September 2005 because of a downturn in business, had interfered with the skycaps' ability to make a living, she said.

Many customers mistakenly thought the skycaps got to keep the fee and were reluctant to tip on top of it, skycaps testified.

"This is further interference with the skycaps' ability to make a living,'' Liss-Riordan said.

She said she plans to file a motion, possibly today, asking US District Judge William G. Young to prevent the airline from implementing the no-tipping policy and ordering American to turn over to the skycaps all baggage fees that its vendor collects.

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