Workers sued over lost income when airline imposed a fee

Skycaps at Boston’s Logan Airport sued American Airlines over lost tip income after the airline imposed a $2 per bag fee for checking luggage curbside – and they won. As a result, American has imposed a ban on tipping skycaps at Logan. Massachusetts law regulates jobs that involve tipping, and American figured that if the skycaps got a raise and were no longer tipped, that law wouldn’t apply. So American’s skycap subcontractor, G2 Services, increased skycaps’ pay well above the minimum wage and the no-tipping policy was instituted last week. American has put up signs at curbside telling passengers they can still check bags there for $2, but they cannot tip skycaps. The skycaps argue that the higher wages don’t come close to making up for their lost tip income, which could reach as much as $200 a day before the ban.