Originally Posted by
FliesInSoup
The revenue premium collected is not for the DBJ or hat. It is for the DL package, as mentioned above. I'll suggest it's due to the on-time performance, irop recovery (which the customer just sees as DL's "plan B" when things go bad), free bag, decent check-in experience, bording, in-flight comfort and amenities. We also get more for the origination/destination pairings and frequency of flights. These are the things customers are willing to pay a bit more for. Not the pilot costume. It helps convey the image, and the marketing of the brand, but no one has ever said, "I'll pay more to see that DBJ and hat". Instead, they'll pay more to get from "A to B" in reasonable comfort and the least amount of hassle.
The most likely thing a pilot can wear that will impress a customer is a smile. Everyone's got one and it doesn't cost a thing.
People are talking about the uniform as if it were a binary scale. It’s obviously not. But let’s use that to illustrate, using some hyperbole.
If you were to walk into a Ritz Carlton, and see the people behind the desk, the bellhop, the doorman… All dressed in ratty sweatpants, what would you think about the business?
Conversely, if you went into a less-than-luxury, but decent hotel, and all the employees you met were dressed
well above the competition, with well fitting, professional, and coordinated uniforms, what would you think of that hotel? Even if their behavior was bland…
Said ‘uniforms’ are not the sole determiner of your experience. That’s laughable. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that doesn’t play
an important role in the overall impression with which you walk away from that business. Nor, that “literally no one would care”. I don’t honk the people saying that actually believe that.
If a business is trying to set itself apart, as Delta management clearly is (and successfully so, as evidenced by our “revenue premium”), the image & behavior of it’s employees, especially the ‘flagship’ pilots, is important. Why do you think PB has such a **** over the hats? Seriously.
We can disagree on the
level it matters, but it’s not binary.