Folks,
Came on this thread by chance. I work at a large airport near west London, and can tell you all that the idea that we do not want servicemen to wear uniform in our terminals is complete bulls**t. While some moron of a mover may well have said this over the PA system at Brize, this is not the policy of the BAA (Funny how most movers have the capacity to talk out of their arse!! I wonder if the RAF recruit them for this??).We regularly see uniformed servicemen around either passing through. or collecting/dropping people off, and long may it continue.
At this point I would point out that earning cash is the main purpose of my lot, and all the airlines. Therefore, we don't give a stuff what you wear, as long as you spend your money with us. In fact even if you don't want to spend your money, we have made it so difficult to access our airports, and that we are bound to screw you for something or other.
Someone seems to think airports are a soft target. I would not however suggest you try to put this to the test. You should remember that the security you see is the visible tip of the iceburg. It's the stuff you can't see that should worry you. This is, I expect the reason why my wonderful company charge so much. Security is verrrrry expensive.
There are a large number of ex military people working at my airport, from all 3 services including myself. I have yet to meet one who wasn't proud of their service, and who won't go out of their way to help an obvious serviceman if they can. However, there are about 40,000 people "working" here, and most have no knowledge of the armed forces at all, and little interest in finding out. This can only be changed by giving our armed forces a higher profile. Perhaps we should insist that you all wear uniform in public rather than try to prevent it.