I said this was new to me. It was an honest question. I’ve never heard anything like this. Never been to a pilot funeral. Never heard of one. Never seen one. Excuse me for asking questions so I actually don’t come across as a douche in the unfortunate event I ever have to attend one.

It is standard to wear full uniform for a pilot funeral. At Spirit, we don’t have hats, so hats clearly won’t be worn. Since you’ve never been to a pilot funeral, I will say it’s always very welcoming to the family to see their loved ones peers show respect at a funeral, showing up in uniform.

Thank you very much for this information. I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my questions. My deepest sympathies to the Spirit family. Side note: I had no idea that Spirit didn’t have uniform hats.

Spot on. Dignity. Support. The family and friends can see how the pilot’s “second family” supports them.

Besides, some pilots do not have a good “civilian” suit to wear.

I’ve been to a few Comair Pilot funerals. It was good to see all the pilots in uniform. What struck me as odd was one funeral where someone called for us to form ranks and salute on command. I thought that was a little over the line since we weren’t a military outfit. Do they salute at doctor’s funerals? Or Taxi Driver funerals? Just cause the military wears hats and fly planes, and we wear hats and fly planes, doesn’t make us the military.

Anyway, ALPA will ask the family if they prefer uniforms or not… and ALPA will communicate those wishes to the pilot group. But when it’s uniform, it’s full uniform.

That, ALPA did not do... We coordinated it ourselves.

Agreeing that we are not military- that’s what surprised me in the beginning of this thread… that airline pilots wear uniforms to funerals. I’m not making any kind of judgment about it one way or the other but someone please correct so I know better- I can’t recall ever seeing an airline pilot wear their uniform at any other life event like weddings, etc. Are there other uniform wearing events I should know about other than funerals and picketing/strikes? Do pilots wear uniforms for other pilots’ weddings?

Interesting. ALPA has covered that angle at each of my airlines. Must not be a standard ALPA National benefit.