Baby Bear
Pace, I disagree, the general public don't have a clue what a PPL is never mind, CPL, ATPL or any of the detail of flying privileges. Your observations may be correct re the non flying public with an interest in flying, but they make up a very small minority and are not representative of the general public.
They dont know the terms PPL, CPL, ATPL but they do refer to Private Pilot and Commercial pilot/ professional pilot. I have flown quite a lot of different groups of people in corporate aviation so am just passing on my observations of how they regard the aircraft, single pilot ops and qualifications from assurances I have had to make a lot of the time.
Pace