I completely agree. Unfortunately that is an attitude that will most likely remain for some time to come.

It will be difficult to reverse that attitude. However, I feel a worthy goal is to make the general public aware of what their pilots are earning and sacrificing to safely move them from city A to city B. If you can get the public to understand the life of an airline pilot, then they will be more willing to accept picketing pilots as hard workers fighting for what's rightfully theirs rather than a bunch of spoiled playboys who aren't content with having just one red convertible.

The media is a very powerful tool and we all hate it when they falsely report on aviation related issues. But it's not something that can't be changed. I'm sure some pilot somewhere has some contact at some sort of media organization whether it be print, television, radio, or even internet. Maybe offering your services to any of these media outlets as an "aviation consultant" could be beneficial for both parties.

Once again, just throwing out some ideas.