Originally Posted by
Zapata
Not really. Airlines started with the hats right around the time that technology made it such that planes were competing with ocean liners. The airlines wanted the "ship's crew" image to instill confidence in the passengers. Hence, the hats.
They're not overly annoying. The "Coat, no hat" look is offensive, though. If you're going to do the "hats off to management" gig, at least remove your coat to complete the out of uniformity.
I do think that the blazer coats should be replaced with bomber jackets...but that's because bomber jackets look snazzy while the average uniform coat is "meh". (The jacket makes coat-no-hat less ugly, IMO...)