Originally Posted by
Packrat
You all can thank the F/O who would stand up in front of 1st class and introduce himself as "Capt. XXXXX" and give them the route/weather brief. He never got the picture that being a retired Navy Captain didn't give him the right to extend that title to the airline.
But, the Anglers loved it so now you're all stuck with it.
I have flown a couple of trips with him. He made several "sight-seeing" type of PAs during the flight, as well as the stand-up-in-front pre-flight PA. After landing, probably 10% of the pax made positive comments on them, not a single negative comment. Plus, one pax turned in a "kudos" for the flight.
So, say what you will, and I am still a probie (for 2 months!), but the pax love the PAs. I think the folks who have been in this industry for (probably) too long have forgotten what it's like to take your first airplane flight, or how doing simple PAs like I mentioned really add to the experience for most passengers. Flying an airplane is really cool, and so is flying in it for a lot of folks. I understand the jaded business traveller might not feel the same, but they are probably in first class with headphones on and a free drink in their hand by the time announcements are made.
Personally, I think the percentage who don't like them is WAY smaller than those that do, just my newbie observations.