Back in the day, i.e. the mid '90s, when Delta had the Escape Plan weekend excursions where you had to call in, on a phone, and hit prompts to select cities & get reduced fares...and when you had to call in, on a phone, at your upgrade window to get cleared/put on the upgrade list...possibly before Widgets was born, ...my personal impression of Red Coats was of more senior customer service staff. These were the 'old guys' who would come on the plane to deliver a BP to F when I was upgraded and help me bring my things up to F (pre GIDS/app), or the 'old guys' who assisted my friend who uses a wheelchair and requires a carry on/off, or they were the folks w free drink tickets for the asking. Like Santa Claus. My impression was they were the best of the best who swooped in to problem solve.

Again, that was my impression, they were senior (i.e. old). Until I found out some years back that my now-husband was a Red Coat, along w a few of his buddies at that same time. And they were in their late 20s/early 30s. I never saw a one of them - I would have remembered any Red Coat under the age of 60! I'm not saying that they were bad at the job because they were young, quite the opposite, they are encyclopedias of rules & regulations, and OH the stories they tell!

I don't recall exactly when that earlier incarnation of Red Coats went away, it was post 9/11. They were brought back to much fanfare in 2009 (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/trave...-service_N.htm) with one of my husband's former colleagues on billboards and jetway signs all over the place. He would like to think they're still the best of the best, sometimes that's the case, sometimes not. But based on how long it sometimes takes us to walk through ATL, there are enough of his old-school, customer-centric colleagues out there still sporting red that I remain hopeful.