Someone previously mentioned it regarding commuting in uniform. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Scenario:
You’re in uniform…pax seated next to you gets mouthy with the FA about their chin diaper. The situation escalates and said pax hauls off and Will Smith’s the FA(which is entirely plausible and has taken place how many thousands of times this year?) Now obviously whether you’re in uniform or out of uniform you’ve been thrust into a situation you didn’t sign up for. Out come the cell phones! When you make it onto the nightly news, do you want to be in uniform or not? I don’t fault the ‘older crowd’ for not completely understanding how the internet works but you’d have a lot less explaining to do(if any) if you were in plain clothes trying to stop an assault and not in uniform. Regardless of the pretext and what led to the situation, nightly news would rather see “Pilot fights passenger!” instead of whatever actually took place before the phones started recording. Wear it commuting or don’t. Who cares. My preference is to alleviate as many undue threats to my livelihood as possible while at work and not at work. You’re being watched in uniform whether you like it or not. I bet if this sleazeball weren’t in uniform pulling these shenanigans it wouldn’t be getting the attention it currently is either, which is ironic given the last 10 pages of uniform while commuting debate.

 

What do you do in the middle of summer, still wear a hoodie?

 

Pervy old dude IN COMPANY UNIFORM. Don’t believe that doesn’t or won’t make a difference. Dude could probably get away with attending a KKK rally in street clothes and simply be a racist idiot - that’s despicable but not illegal - but if he does it in a recognizable uniform, ANY UNIFORM, the organization represented by that uniform is going to be appropriately pi$$ed. They have a whole PR department they fund that won’t create enough positive PR to offset that one sleazy old dude perking in uniform.

 

Or in Home Depot when not on duty! Seen quite a few pilots do that

 

I've been to the grocery store in uniform.. It has literally nothing to do with me wanting to be seen as a pilot and 100% to do with it being 99 outside and having to stop and pick up ingredients for dinner on the way home from the airport.

 

This is quite an outrageous example. I've been flying and/or commuting for 10 years and I've literally never seen a fistfight with a FA on my plane. Yes, I'm aware this has happened once. But it had zero impact on my decision to or not to wear a uniform.


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Here are my reasons.

Winter uniform: my bag is often too full of winter gear (jackets, sweatshirts, jeans, etc) for me to stuff my horse blanket and hat in there without wrinkles or crushing the hat. So I wear the full uniform.

Fall/spring/Summer: pilots don't understand what 180 people stuffed in a metal tube does to temperature. It's 90 degrees in here and I'm not wearing a pullover sweatshirt or wind jacket. I'm not going to sweat just so no one knows I'm a pilot. Earbuds in. No one bothers me.

 

I've never really worried about that either, like I said I'm aware that I'll be on the news if someone gets crazy. But a uniformed pilot in close proximity is likely a deterrent to bad behavior anyway... even if FA's aren't authority figures, we still are. I'm also a bit larger than average. Maybe that's *why* we've never seen a fist fight in the cabin. Or maybe it has more to do with not commuting on spirit?

 

Thanks CBreezy! Both are valid reasons. Those of us who commute in seasonally appropriate half zips can easily mitigate those reasons.

Also most of us stop at grocery stores on way home from work as well. I have never changed out of uniform entirely, but I do take the half zip out to blend in.

Personally, I do not like to solicit attention but rather blend in both as a pax and in public. But that is just my opinion. I am sure you are much younger and better looking anyway so you make the brand look good.👍🏻

 

This isn't to say what you are doing is wrong but, for me, the only seasonable outfit after March is a polo shirt and that doesn't go over a uniform. The rest is just unbearable in the airport and punishing in an airplane that likely will have the APU off until D8.

And frankly, I'm not a "brand ambassador" at the grocery store. I'm a dude getting groceries. I care zero percent what they or Delta thinks about me being there.

And I'm not particularly young or handsome. My off time is my off time. I'm obviously not drinking or doing anything video worthy in uniform.