A guy who helped me at the airport

So I was at the Cancun airport and as soon as I left the taxi, there was a dude who grabbed my suitcases and asked me “are you flying with Alaska?” I said no and he asked “then which airline” to which I answered “Volaris”. I found it a little suspicious so I asked him “are you working for Volaris?” and he said “I work for the airport so you pay me tip” (there’s nothing that confirms he is working for Volaris so he might be just a random guy). I honestly I didn’t need help and I don’t like these people who do things I didn’t even ask and trying to get tips from people because they feel guilty for not giving a tip, but I thought it’s going to be just 50 pesos so just let him carry it.

He actually helped me well quickly and navigated to put me “the fast lane”. For some reason, there were three lanes for the Volaris counter and each has totally different length of lines. One had extremely long line and one had only 4 groups. The short lane had one lady who seemed to gate people who aren’t eligible but each lane didn’t have any sign so there’s no clear distinction between them. He basically said something to that lady and the lady immediately let me in. And the dude was like “here’s your fast lane”. Thinking back, the long lane had kiosks on the way to the counter where people were checking weight of their bags so I’m guessing that those were for people who were not checked in online and I suspect he didn’t do anything special, but maybe I’m wrong.

At the end, he asked me a tip which is kinda okay. But he said “500 pesos are fine”. I was genuinely surprised and said “what? Did you say 500 pesos? Are you serious?” And he immediately “maybe like 250 pesos. Whatever you feel like”. I was thinking ~100 pesos were appropriate but I was kinda pissed off and thought he’s just trying to scam non-Mexican tourists here, so just paid 50 pesos. I asked him if he thinks 300 pesos is a fair tip and he was like “yeah because I put you in the fast lane”. He clearly looked unsatisfied and even kind of angry so I genuinely didn’t know he is a bad guy or maybe I’m a stingy bad guy, and I should have paid 500 pesos.

Looking back though, he talked to me in English and even asked initially if I’m flying Alaska so it looks like he was just trying to rip off foreigner with money because he was looking for or at least assuming an American tourist, but I’m not 100% sure.

Should I have tipped more or was he trying to scam?

reviews

I was in Cancun last week. I had a guy who helped me get my bag tags on and then led me to check-in. The other lines were huge and I walked right up without waiting. He never took my bags from me though and I wouldn’t have let him but honestly I thought it was well worth the $10 I gave him.

Indeed. Before you even leave the airport building, you get to pass through the timeshare shark tank. Then the second you step outside, you get accosted by taxi drivers, most of whom will attempt a huge upcharge at your destination. Every resort we've visited tries to rope us into a "totally not a timeshare" timeshare presentation, which we usually do for fun and funny money. Don't do it for less than $400 USD though.