First and foremost, there are plenty of regional pilots that take pride in their uniform and look like true professionals.
For the others, there are a lot of factors at play here:
- Low hiring standards that don't focus on interview appearance, leadership, and professionalism. I personally think the receptionists should "observe and report" on how the interviewees conducted themselves in the waiting area: there's a perfect sneak peak of what your future pilot is going to look like hanging out by the gate.
- Cultural shift, as mentioned before.
- Lack of instilling professionalism in INDOC: new-hires need to be directly told that they're expected to maintain a proper uniform, and it needs to come from someone in pro stands or another union committee (membership, etc.). A fellow line pilot needs to tell the new guys, not an instructor.
- Although not the company's responsibility, making shoe-shine, lint rollers, and even an ironing board readily available in the crew room could help crew members out. Even the union could make these supplies available.
All the talk of self-policing aside, I expect the company to lead on this as well (as Firebird mentioned). There's nothing like spending 30 minutes on your uniform the night before a trip only to sit in a cockpit seat with brown stains and mounds of dust on the CB panel.
Professionalism is so much more than just a hat, too. I personally hated them (but I did wear it), and saw plenty of pilots that were in complete compliance with our uniform policy that still looked a bit disheveled. Unions and management need to work together to educate and empower employees to look the part. Whether it be an updated jacket (nice, SurferLucas) or a lecture in indoc, something's got to give.
