Tattoos In The Industry
 

Hey all,

I understand tattoos are widely unaccepted in the pilot industry. I am wondering from the experience out there if anyone has seen pilots wearing compression sleeves to hide tattoos. I have a tattoo that goes down to about mid forearm on one arm. Just seeing if anyone has seen it and the airlines allow it or if most guys just wear long sleeves. I don't need any comments from the anti-tattoo parade, i'm just seeing if this is a possibility or if I will have to wear long sleeves for the life of my career. Thanks for any input.

I've only seen long sleeves.

Why get a tattoo....?:confused:
(Not being anti anything here, just Don't understand, as in clueless)

I think it all depends on the culture and requirements of your airline. I've seen some guys no really care that their forearm tattoos were showing when wearing a short sleeve shirt, but I also know guys that would only wear long sleeve shirts to cover up their tats.

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Um he probably got it before becoming a pilot. That said, the only safe tattoo is one you can cover up easily.

Most folks that I know who have anything visible below the short sleeve line just wear long sleeves. I have seen a couple of guys lately who had some smaller stuff on their forearms who were wearing short sleeves. But it isn't very common.

We have a guy with full sleeves and still wears short sleeve shirts and couldn't care less what people may or may not think. While flying with him, all I hear are compliments from pax and other workers though.

I have 3-4 visible arm tattoos while wearing short sleeves. I just wear long sleeves to the interview and first few days of training until I can get a feel for the atmosphere. Have never heard any complaints. Was actually encouraged by the cooler of the two asst. chiefs to get full arm sleeves.

Aren't visible tattoos against uniform regs at most, if not all airlines? Just curious.

They are at most if not all majors.

The word "tattoo" is not ever mentioned in our FOM.

That's what I thought. I suppose the regionals are more lax, although they aren't on the FA side....

Where does it state you can't have tattoos showing? i am curious as i have a forearm tattoo. Should i just accept the fact ill be wearing long sleeves for my career or is there some leeway in this? it seems at the airlines you don't have a choice? Where was this full sleeves guy working at?

We're not real pilots yet. More like apprentices. Mgmt is just glad we don't park the planes in the trees short of the runway.

Is that true regionals don't care? Or are you just saying this?

Haven't worked at a regional since 2009, but back then I'm pretty sure tats on
Pilots couldn't be visible. That's why some wore long sleeved shirts year round. Other posters who are pilots said their airline didn't address the issue, so who knows?!

Tattoos In The Industry
 

Got three guys at JetBlue that have full sleeves On both arms. .. Covered in the terminal and jacket comes off in the cockpit .... All are great guys

I always assumed that so I just looked it up. Tattoo is not mentioned in our FOM anywhere. As far as I can tell there is no official policy on visible tattoos at UAL? Not definite but I can't find it in writing.

Interesting....

I wouldn't show tattoos, or piercings (for guys) (even the ear holes) at an interview. They will be noticed. Heard of a gal that blew a major interview by telling HR she got a belly piercing. It's not that you can't "have" these things. But I'd keep them covered up in front of interviewers and pax.

This brings up an interesting point. I had to take my 18 year old to the hospital a while back. She has been wearing me out about getting a tattoo. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up. So I have been telling her that doctors don't have tattoos. And of course the attending ER doctor shows up with a full sleeve on one of her arms and a partial on the other. So much for dad's wisdom about doctors not having tattoos!

The whole perception about tattoos not being acceptable for professionals is rapidly changing.

Any tattoo that starts off with the letters U.S.S. followed by the name of a city, state, or president should not be an issue.

Tell her if she REALLY wants to stand out and be different she WON'T get a tattoo!

I must have beat incredible odds as none of my 3 kids has ever gotten or been remotely interested in tats. Their mother, on the other hand......:)

Absolutely correct^^^^. I wasn't inferring by my last post that it would be a good idea to flash tatts at an interview. The whole belly piercing thing seems a bit stuffy and illogical though. Who the heck cares if a lady has a belly piercing? I'm pretty sure that she is going to keep her shirt on while in uniform?

Just goes to show that you need to keep it on the low down during any interview.

Oh yeah I've tried that. But "You're clueless dad!".....You know the drill with teenagers.:)

The image that an airline tries to show is one of conservativeness usually, unless you are Southwest where different is appreciated, a culture in fact. I would be curious to know how Southwest feels about them.

But to your point about the ER doc, I do think they are becoming more socially acceptable and airlines will have to deal with millennials as employees in mass soon who have completely different ideas about evil corporations etc..

Finally, the military is tightening up tattoo policies as well. Here is a recent link.
http://www.army.mil/article/122978/A...tattoo_policy/

I saw a 60+ year old biker walk in through the ambulance entrance. He had a long grey pony tail, tattoos, and was sporting his club colors. He poked his head into a couple rooms, and I was about to ask if I could help when a nurse said, "Hi Dr. xxxxx."

I guess that means I'm some kind of bigot.

I do, although my son was/is an angel and every parents dream! My twin girls on the other hand.....well let's just say they're out of their teens and realize how smart and right I always was. Patience, dear!

My 18 year old is a good kid who thinks she is a rebel. If she was 1/10th as out of control and crazy as her dad was at that age we'd have a problem!:D

Ink isn't allowed at my airline. Guys wear long sleeves.

Most regionals care. They can't show.

If be surprised if any majors allow visible tats.

Assuming true and not something that was just "heard", how the hell does that come up in an interview in the FIRST PLACE?

There was girl at one of my former employers that had just about EVERY part of her pierced. You know, the top, the hoo hoo, multiple holes in here ear, etc. She was hired at UAL.

I would agree with that. But it's also one of those things that just because somebody gets them, DON'T expect the world to change JUST BECAUE THEY DID IT. Especially in this job that's still relatively conservative.

In that case Hoss, just show her this. And make sure to point out to her the purple (and MAYBE green) coding connotation for location.

Tattoo Location Chart Photo by taco130130 | Photobucket

What if I walked into a major airline interview with a tat of their logo on my forearm? I mean, they would HAVE to hire me, right?

I just searched the envoy fm and it didn't return a hit on tattoo, and I looked through the uniform section, nothing. Ours is almost a copy paste of aa and I've seen one aa guy on the bus in lga with a forearm tattoo.

Even so, you ought to steer her into dermatology. I foresee a bright future in tattoo removal in the years ahead.

They also have heroin dealers as pilots apparently :p

...and I quote from our FOM: "No tattoos may be visible."

Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I maintain that everyone who gets a visible tattoo will miss out on at least one significant opportunity (employment, potential relationship, blood donation, etc) in their lifetime because of it. :(

Maybe that's because envoy hiring teams nip it in the bud during the interview process.

Dal and 9E allow no visible tattoos. Long sleeve shirt for you!

Thanks for the input guys. For anyone that wants to know "why", my response would be, for the same reason that you have hobbies that I probably can't stand. For the same reason that you eat a food that I may not be able to stomach. Because I like them and find it to be an awesome form of art. I did think my whole life through when getting it and realized that in a worst case scenario, I can wear long sleeves. I did get it when I was in the Navy and won't ever regret it. I also realize that there are other opinions on the matter and I respect those. One thing is for sure and that is that it will never come up in an interview.