I've had two similar incidents:

Inaugural LAX-SYD flight was delayed because fueling at LAX took longer than planned. One of the pilots came thru BE and explained that we were loading 286,000lbs of fuel and that, for comparison, a fully loaded 763ER weighed 300,000lbs. Just the fact that the pilot communicated what was going on in a way that we could understand was a big plus. ^

When I boarded NRT-ATL in January 2006 (not too long after the bankruptcy filing), one of the pilots was at the door greeting the pax with the FAs. I noticed that he looked at my carry-on bag with all the PM tags attached. Later during the flight, I got up to stretch and get some water from the galley. They same pilot was on his break, chatting with the FAs. He said that he had noticed from my bag tags that I was a PM and asked what routes I usually flew. Then he said, "Well, I want to thank you for flying Delta. You're the reason I have a job." ^^^

In both instances, the actions of these pilots cost DL zilch, yet they left a lasting positive memory.