An interesting read. I was thinking along similar lines, but more dress code. Those training for their PPL or currently holding a PPL, do you find attitudes change towards you if you dress rather smart or not?
Uniform and stripes are part of the culture in many southern countries and allow for quick transit through airports.
In Europe, dress has never been a problem. I always wear jeans, t-shirt and cap, and carry a scruffy bashed up flight bag. Never had problems going through airport controls and jumping waiting pax thanks to the AOPA Air Crew badge (great piece of plastic useful for getting hotel discounts too
).
Regarding attitude I had to laugh the other day. We were three club aeroplanes arriving from Bosnia with a stopover in Pescara onbound to Rome, two India and one Golf registered. ATC treated the two Indias speaking Italian as normal PPLs. Flying the Golf aeroplane I chose to speak English and got treated as a professional pilot with a "Sir" at the end of every transmission
