AINsight: Titles Matter at 35,000 Feet

I was flying somewhere over the Midwest when I felt my jaw tighten. The airline captain came over the PA and said, “I’m going to ask the ladies to please take their seats.” Later in the flight, he said it again!

I wasn’t upset because women were asked to sit down. Safety always comes first. What unsettled me was how two casual words diminished the professionalism of the trained safety experts responsible for every passenger on board.

They aren’t “the ladies.” In business aviation, we call them cabin safety attendants. In commercial aviation, they’re flight attendants, though I often wish the airlines would adopt our title, as it more accurately reflects the role’s responsibilities.

Precision in Language Reflects Precision in Leadership

At 35,000 feet, I found myself thinking about what happens when we get titles wrong. The words we choose shape how professionals are perceived, compensated, and empowered.

Ours is an industry built on precision. We know the difference between a Bombardier Global 6000 and a Global Express. Yet we don’t always apply that same discipline to how we describe the people who operate, maintain, and safeguard these aircraft.

Consider the Naples Challenger 604 crash. In a moment of crisis, the cabin safety attendant was a highly trained professional who drew on every ounce of her training, her knowledge of that aircraft, and her instinct to protect others. In those seconds, she was not thinking about service. She was fighting for her passengers’ lives while her own was on the line, making split-second decisions, moving people, clearing obstacles, and doing everything she could to create a path to survival.

Her title was not incidental. It signaled authority, preparation, and purpose when it mattered most.

Yes, she was a woman, and indeed a lady, but in that moment, she was a highly trained safety professional responsible for the lives around her.

Titles Influence Compensation, Credibility, and Clout

The same dynamic plays out on the ground. Is someone a mechanic, a maintenance technician, or a crew chief? A maintenance supervisor or a director of maintenance? A pilot or a captain? A chief pilot or a v-p of aviation?

These distinctions are not semantics. Titles influence three important factors in someone’s career: compensation, credibility, and clout.

Compensation is the most straightforward. Organizations benchmark pay based on title and scope. Compensation surveys, HR frameworks, and salary bands are built around those roles. When someone is positioned incorrectly on the org chart, compensation often follows that same misalignment.

Over time, talented professionals may find themselves underpaid relative to the responsibilities they carry. That gap eventually affects morale, retention, and even succession planning within a department.

Credibility matters just as much. When a director of maintenance calls an MRO service center, their title signals authority, experience, and accountability. A maintenance supervisor may possess identical capability, but the title does not always carry the same weight.

I see this dynamic from another perspective as well. As CEO, I’ve sat in meetings where a client directs every question to me, even when the subject matter expert from our team is sitting right beside me. Titles influence who people assume holds the answers, even when the real expertise may be elsewhere.

That’s why getting titles right matters. They signal expertise, responsibility, and authority before a single word is spoken.

Clout shapes influence inside an organization. Titles often determine who is invited into strategic discussions, who represents the department, and who participates in decisions about budgets, staffing, and long-term planning.

For example, when a flight department is led by a chief pilot rather than a v-p of aviation or director of aviation, senior leadership may perceive the function differently. The role may still carry the same operational responsibility, but the title can influence whether the department is viewed primarily as operational support or as a strategic asset to the enterprise.

While credibility is earned over time, clout is often granted by title and organizational structure. Both are shaped, at least in part, by the words we use to describe the roles people hold.

Language Sets the Standard

As business aviation evolves, so do the expectations placed on the people who make it work. Aircraft are more capable, missions are increasingly international, and risk management is far more complex than it was even a decade ago.

Cabin safety attendants are not on board simply to serve coffee or troubleshoot Wi-Fi. Their primary role is managing safety procedures, medical emergencies, security concerns, and the passenger experience in real time.

Similarly, maintenance leaders are navigating supply-chain instability, compliance, risk exposure, and operational pressure. Meanwhile, aviation directors are stewarding multimillion-dollar budgets while advising the C-suite on risk and strategy.

We are asking more of these roles than ever before, and our language must reflect that. After all, we cannot demand higher performance while diminishing the language that defines the work.

That’s what stayed with me as the flight came to an end.

I wanted to respectfully share my perspective, but I wasn’t able to connect with the captain or first officer. I may still share this article with the airline’s CEO, not to criticize, but to offer perspective. I believe in speaking up, respectfully, when language unintentionally undercuts professionalism.

Titles are not about ego; they’re about clarity, accountability, and respect.

At 35,000 feet, on the hangar floor, and in the C-suite, the words we choose matter.