Sure, I know how much they cost...which is why it doesn't surprise that some guy who has after tax take home pay of 2 grand a month decides to 'borrow' one from a fellow pilot.

I don't know how many pilots there are at ASA, but let's say a couple thousand. I guarantee that in a group that large, there are a few who wake up in the morning and the first thing they do is take a drink of liquor from a flask in their flight case. There are probably one or two who go home from their trip and beat the hell out of their wives. There are a couple who go to prostitutes and have some type of fetish that most would consider strange....and yes, there are some who will steal from their fellow employees as well. It's just statistics...and yes, in the 12,000 Delta pilots, there are some of those personalities as well. About the only caveat I would give is that there are fewer of those types in the pilot ranks than in the general population...but they are there.

Rampers have access to thousands of bags everyday with all sorts of valuables right at their fingertips....why would they take the risk of skulking around pilots lounges to steal Pilot hats? I'd be glad to hear that it wasn't a pilot doing the pilfering, but I think you've got to go with Occam's Razor here