Chug,
How much respect do you think a young acting sgt cabin crew member would get from a planeload of squaddies? I suspect even less than acting cpl PTIs get from their RAF colleagues, and that ain’t much. Heck, senior members on here have even written about the credibility issues faced by transport captains when they held acting sqn led rank.
But frankly I don’t see the relevance of rank for cabin crew. Saving lives is no reason. Where does that leave firefighters and medics? Many of the crew on RAF Voyagers are civilians employed by AirTanker; can their instructions be safely ignored? No, but there will always be idiots who try it on, and that would remain the case even if all cabin crew were commissioned officers. In fact that would probably make it worse! More generally, abuse of rank has declined massively during my time in service and the minority who try it from time to time are viewed with disdain. ‘Standing’ is needed as well as ‘seniority’ before orders can given and our youngsters are very well attuned to that, a sign of the times no less.