A new campaign from the Transportation Department aims to restore civility to American air travel and apparently dressing nicer is part of the solution.
“If you just watch social media, you have brawls at the baggage claim, you have passengers berating gate agents,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said while speaking with Fox Business on Wednesday, according to Business Insider. “We have unruly passengers on airplanes. People dress up like they’re going to bed when they fly.
“And so we want to push people, as we come into a really busy travel season: Help people out, be in a good mood, dress up, bring civility back to travel.”
The new campaign is titled “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You.” It urges passengers to dress “with respect” while traveling, according to USA Today.
It also urges passengers to ask themselves questions like these:
- Are you helping a pregnant woman or the elderly with placing their bags in the overhead bin?
- Are you keeping control of your children and helping them through the airport?
- Are you saying thank you to your flight attendants?
- Are you saying please and thank you in general?
Asked by NBC News what the agency meant by “dressing with respect,” a department spokesperson said travelers should keep their shoes and socks on.
“There’s no question we’ve lost sight of what makes travel fun – the excitement, the relaxation, the cordial conversations,” the department’s announcement said, according to USA Today. “Americans already feel divided and stressed. We can all do our part to bring back civility, manners, and common sense. When we can unite around shared values, we can feel more connected as a country.”
Behavior problems among passengers have been rising in recent years, according to the department:
- Since 2019, the FAA has seen a 400% increase of in-flight outbursts — ranging from disruptive behavior to outright violence
- 13,800 unruly passenger incidents since 2021
- Unruly passenger reports rose six times between 2020 and 2021
- One in five flight attendants experienced physical incidents in 2021
- 2024 saw double the number of unruly passenger events compared with 2019
More on the Trump administration
- Pentagon investigating senator over video urging troops to refuse ‘illegal orders’
- Trump administration plans to review all refugees admitted under Biden, memo says
- Fate of DOGE revealed: What happened to Musk’s cost-cutting effort?
- Report: Trump peace plan would cede Ukraine territory to Russia, prevent NATO expansion
- Trump calls video by 6 Democratic lawmakers ’seditious behavior,’ ‘punishable by death’
