As a pilot who has also worked for Part 135 and 121, I will try to respond to this.

First, I completely agree that there is a lack of professionalism in aviation today. I see it almost every day. The un-tucked or un-ironed shirts, bad language, not shaving, etc is not the image we need to present. I am not proud to say that I have taken part in some of these myself.

I will also say that there are a lot of extremely professional pilots in the 121 world. Men and Women that come to work everyday, completely prepared, despite anything that may be happening outside of work. They are polite to the passengers and fun to be around. I fear they are less and less, but they are still here.

Now my rebuttal to this. The unfortunate truth to the matter is that it is next to impossible to act professionally when you are treated like a child. Treated like you are completely expendable. I found it much easier to be professional while flying Charter. Management and scheduling valued me as an employee and weren't constantly threatening my job. The passengers were happy when they showed up to the airport and greated us while they were getting onboard. I can not imagine not slipping up every now and again with how we are treated by the airline. If they want professionals, they should treat us as such.