As an aviation professional I am disturbed by the use of the term. You are our customers, we would not have a job with out you and furthermore it represents weakness on our part to de-humanize the people we cater to just in order to justify our poor attitude and bitter outlook on our jobs.
Most of this seems to come from what some call "stewardesses" or "stewards". They hate the reference. Most of them have just about 0 further education so this does not surprise me. I have met many hard working wonderful flight attendants in my day who take their jobs seriously. I suppose flying cargo over PAX simplifies a pilots job (other than the hours).
Bottom line is publically disrespecting your customer base because the rapidly declining quality of an industry makes your job harder is no excuse to blow it off as a "term of endearment" within public view.