I think way too many guys have way too much invested in black tennis shoes to go with their leather jacket to change colors.

As an AA guy, I'm probably in the minority when I say this, but I wouldn't mind a uniform change, specifically one to a darker shade.

Sensibility must abound - no weird submarine commander outfits, fabric that wears well and doesn't get shiny, minimal bling. And multiple vendors as well.

And of course - no hats.

You know, if we ALL get new uniforms, it'll feel much less a "We vs. Them" thing. It'll be a We vs. Management thing.

Oh well, in that case, maybe management can come up with three distinctly different uniforms... maybe they will try an "It's a small world after all" theme.

One thing I think that's very important, that I have not seen brought up, is ensuring that express pilots do not wear the same uniform as mainline.

The mainline uniform is one that is earned. I hope that APA and USAPA push for this.

That's not that big of a deal for me. I just care about stuff that will effect me personally. Having an eagle pilot wearing the same uniform doesn't effect me. Having to wear a hat and losing my paid for leather jacket does.

Honestly I think letting the "American Eagle" guys wear the same uniforms as us makes a mandatory hat less likely. They would then need to buy 20000+ hats and uniforms vs 15000.

I completely agree; let's not water down the uniform.

Management has assigned the express pilots to fly all the routes I used to fly 15 or 20 years ago. Why shouldn't management give them my uniform too?

Uh, err, daze? Water down? Have you seen some mainline pilots in their uniform?

We put the mainline name on the outside to pull a fast on on the traveling public, why not on the most important part?

If it has the mainline name on it, hold it to the same standard and don't worry about the little stuff.

IMHO as always.

No offense to my Eagle bro's... DFW is of course AA's fortress. I operate out of Terminal D. We have gobs of Eagle pilots there either deadheading or commuting, but almost no originations.

Walking down the hallways there, you see pilots eating, reading, snoozing, and the only real way to tell the difference is in the shape of the wings and the crest of the hat, if there is one. But there is one other major difference... When I see an AA pilot that looks like a high school kid, I don't have to focus on the wings. It's Eagle.

There are a shocking number of what look like children operating RJ's these days. I guess in the end, it's just me getting freaky old.

"Get off my lawn!!!"

on the flip side, there are many younger pilots being hired at mainline and get the looks of "*** are you doing our crew room ratjet driver".