I'm not coming here with any links or references to back this up, just experience from growing up in the airline and working for them. My dad was a captain for three golden era majors, mother and sisters worked for them as well. I have one sister that still works for ALPA at the higher tier. From my understanding leather jackets were part of the airline after WWII when a majority of the pilots were military vets. It's part of a tradition. It seems to me that most of the guys, well kids, here that are b%$&ing about them don't really have any clue about where they come from or why. You can have your opinion about if you like them or not. You can choose to wear them or not. Just be sure you have a more educated opinion about them when you comment on whether or not they should or should not be part of the uniform. Remember why they were/are part of the uniform at some airlines. It's about tradition and I'm afraid that a lot of you are serverly misinformed, if informed at all, on the subject.