Yes, pilots do care! A lot
Hundredpercent
Yes it does indeed look as if we are indeed singing from the same hymnsheet after all that!
David
With rare exceptions, you might be absolutely amazed by just how much we "at the pointy end" do care. It hurts us unbelievably to see passengers treated like cattle or subjected to indignities or unexplained delays. When we see injustice and inefficiency, we try and show our concern, attempt practical steps to improve things on the day and, later send in our reports.
We are ambassadors for our companies and want our passengers to enjoy our flights, indeed our entire company product. Cabin crew do of course care a huge amount too, but their actions though laudable are necessarily more limited.
How much we can achieve is largely dependent upon our company. In mine, I might delay boarding for 5 minutes while we muck in and shift a sea of trash from the floor. I don't like to think of you boarding a filthy plane. In another company, I might get disciplined for that. Generally, the more autonomy a crew has, the better they will be at working in your interests and solving your problems.
Remember that when things go wrong, the crew are working so hard that they may not have time to tell you what is going on until later. Also, there is unfortunately an increasing tendency towards minimising information to avoid unfair claims for liability. However a good crew will succeed in reassuring you one way or another.
If ever you get a crew that seems completely ambivalent to the passengers' distress, it is most likely with an airline where every last hint of pro-company morale has been squeezed out of them.