Personally I think it has all gone to rat**** since captains stopped wearing white gloves for landing..
Not to mention many airlines that have dispensed with the wearing of hats as part of crew uniform - I think that's when it started going downhill
Airline Pilots -v- Train Drivers
As a young co-pilot ( many years ago ) I remember a Captain talking along similiar lines, and suggested that we not only wore a uniform to be identified, but also to instil confidence in our passengers. He rightly reckoned that he could actually fly the aircraft naked, it didn't take a uniform to be able to fly a Cat III approach on a crummy night, but if he wore any old gear a passenger might think that the pilot looked like himself on a day off, and he - the pax. - couldn't fly the aircraft so could the guy up front who looked like any average Joe ? Bull**** Baffles Brains.
The same Captain went on to remind me that during the 20's and 30's the London to Glasgow ( or similar ) express train drivers were regarded as the elite of the elite amongst the travelling public, crowds parted, women swooned, schoolboys ached to be a train driver etc. etc. but now they were just a bunch of scruffy workers in greasy overalls carrying their lunch to work in a tin box, and he reckoned that we were embarking on the same downward slope as we let our standards slip.
My generation vowed not to act like the many martinets from the Second World War that we encountered in the left hand seat - I was once chastised for addressing the co-pilot by his christian name " We DON'T Use Christian Names On The Flight Deck - MR XXXXXXXX " I was told, maybe we needed to lighten up a bit, but did we take it too far ?