Delta hat culture?

I only upgraded cause I could hold hot PHX as a Capt. It was a sweet gig. Flew one day a week and the Marriot in Old Town SDL is the best hotel in the system. My F/O was a Colonel in PHX KC135 outfit. Great guy. We were on duty at 4pm and he'd sleep in a recliner the whole time. Not sure if he is still around. We get off at 11 and I'd try to get to Loco Patron in time for a couple Margaritas. Wash, rinse, repeat. Was a good deal for a couple years until they figured out the Hot PHX never did anything any they moved it to ONT. That was the end of that.
Why did the good deals end, is there any left?
 
I think a lot depends on your point of view. Anyone hired in the 90's saw the best of the skeds but the worst of the pay. I literally blocked 100 hours a year in those days on the 727. Short legs like EFD-DFW, LAS-PHX, and BFI-YVR round trips. Over the years we made more but the company became more efficient. Then some computer gizmo (we called it the sodimizer, they called it the optimizer) starting squeezing every ounce of efficiency out of the skeds. Then Covid hit and things sucked even more. Then I retired. I suppose there are some good deals depending on your point of view. It's hard for the company to turn on a dime with staffing and there are times when reserve is a good deal if you live in base. Then there are guys who just love Cologne layovers or whatever and that's all it takes to make them happy. To each their own. I was blessed to be able to bail at age 60 (thank you old skool pension).
 
I can blend in with the best of them. Throw on my Patagucci vest, slam a free beer/shot and proceed to talk loudly on the phone about 'business' so everyone knows I'm important.
Having at one point been an HVC, I certainly get the desire to have lounge access, but I also think this completely ruins that. "Go pace on the concourse while you shout about whatever it is instead of shattering our peace, we come up here to get away from that!"
 
I can blend in with the best of them. Throw on my Patagucci vest, slam a free beer/shot and proceed to talk loudly on the phone about 'business' so everyone knows I'm important.
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I can blend in with the best of them. Throw on my Patagucci vest, slam a free beer/shot and proceed to talk loudly on the phone about 'business' so everyone knows I'm important.
While uttering business tropes

Circle back
Run it up the flag pole
Round table it
 
In 2000 years archeologists will be data-mining the internet and writing books about how important hats were to pilots of airplanes that flew in the troposphere.
 
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