Profane Kahuna

Nothing you have mentioned (tattoos, facial piercings, etc) is relevant to a discussion about beards.

You are just ranting about things you don't like. You might as well yell at kids to get off your lawn.

Excargodog

Actually, no. The problem is how to draw and enforce a line in an area that is only shades of gray. One man’s acceptable is not acceptable to the next, and we are in a consumer driven business. It’s sort of like the issue with service animals. Do I want to be an ogre and separate some blind kid from his seeing eye dog? Not no but H€|| no. But do I want a miniature horse cr@ping on adjacent passengers? Certainly not. And wherever you try to draw the line in an inherently gray area, there will always be litigation. Nothing personal at all, it’s just bad for business…

now keep off my lawn…

Profane Kahuna

You just can't help yourself.

This discussion is about beards.

Only someone like you could start on beards and end up on "miniature horses crapping on passengers".

JamesNoBrakes

Ex-US military thing? Other countries airlines don’t seem to have this huge problem and allow beards. What is different here?

rickair7777

Internal culture: Ex military for sure.

External branding: More complicated. In recent US history most professionals tend to have minimal facial hair (Gen X and older). Authority figures essentially never sport beards in the US... cops, politicians, doctors, high-end lawyers (low-end CD and ambulance chasers often adopt grooming standards that their scumbag clients can relate to), etc. In fact facial hair in the US has often been a deliberate badge of non-conformity.

Overseas it's common for anyone in any position in society, including military and cops, to wear a beard, and in many societies beards are de rigueur.

Is the pendulum swinging here? Yes, obviously but it's not there yet with all of society. In fact there was a beard fad in the 70's and 80's that fizzled out without making any lasting impression on cultural norms.

As I've said before it doesn't matter (yet) what millenials want because most airline dollars still come from older generations.

WacoQCF

Hawaiian Airlines allows pilots to have beards. It isn’t an FAA rule.

rickair7777

No, totally company policy. HAL has a different branding and customer base than other legacies, plus island culture.

2StgTurbine

You seem to think that there is a dominant American culture. Most people don't have opinions on facial hair anymore. The standards of business attire have also changed. Do you remember when airline employees couldn't nonrev with jeans? Eventually, we stuck out because our high-value customers were dressing more casually than off-duty employees. The only people who think there is a connection between beards and professionalism are other pilots. Airline policy is always about 10 years behind popular culture. If airlines are even talking about beards now, that means the pendulum has already swung.

rickair7777

So how long until the legacies allow beards?

Furloughedboi

The people who are claiming that somehow beards and facial hair will depreciate the appearance of the average airline pilot clearly hasn’t paid attention to half of the pilots walking around the terminal. How many overweight guys you see? Top-button undone guys? Loose tie? Messy hair? Wrinkled uniform? Just general sloppy appearance and posture?

A clean face doesn’t make a professional. If that’s your only argument, it’s weak and outdated. This isn’t the 1950’s anymore where tattoos are taboo and beards are for hippies. You can look professional with a beard, and tattoos for that matter. Or are you implying all those Canadians pilots look unprofessional? Shaving is a outdated, and honestly pretty dang annoying for a lot of people. theres no need projecting what you think is professional on issues that are really quite subjective