How do you dress when you travel?
When you are going on a plane or taking a long train or boat ride, do you choose your finest outfit, perhaps a jacket, a suit or a fancy dress? Or do you reach for your comfiest sweats, maybe even your pajamas?
Do you think it matters how you and your fellow passengers dress? Is it OK to wear casual clothes on a long journey? Or do you think we should return to the days of snazzy outfits, like the ones pictured above from the 1950s or ’60s, when suits and dresses were standard travel attire?
In “Sean Duffy Wants You to Stop Wearing PJs on the Plane,” Claire Fahy writes about a new civility campaign from the U.S. Department of Transportation that encourages travelers to dress “with respect”:
Passport? Check. Suitcase? Check. But what about your pillbox hat?
As travelers head to the airports this holiday season, the U.S. government wants them to rethink their travel checklists, their behavior — and also, their outfits.
Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, began a new campaign on Wednesday that he called “The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You,” complete with a 1960s-style public service announcement that spliced together scenes of the country’s first air travelers, dressed in suits and hats, with present-day clips of in-flight brawls and airport meltdowns. In the background, Frank Sinatra sings “Come Fly With Me.”
But the Transportation Department’s accompanying news release criticized more than fighting. It chastised fliers for forgetting to say “please” and “thank you” and for not helping older or pregnant passengers put their bags in the overhead bins.
“Are you dressing with respect?” Mr. Duffy asks in the video. “Are you keeping control of your children?”
“Bringing civility back, I think, enhances the travel experience for everybody,” Mr. Duffy said in a Fox News Business appearance, adding, “Let’s maybe go back to an era where we didn’t wear our pajamas to the airport.”
The announcement came on the heels of Mr. Duffy’s decision last week to scrap a proposal that would have required airlines to compensate passengers for significant travel disruptions within carriers’ control. The move was the Transportation Department’s latest attempt to roll back passenger protections and regulations geared toward making airlines accountable for improving customer service.
In a related article, “Sean Duffy Longs for the ‘Golden Age’ of Air Travel. What Was That Like?,” Ms. Fahy also writes about what flying used to look like:
When Pan Am introduced its first jetliner, a Boeing 707 named “America,” with an inaugural flight on Oct. 26, 1958, a marching band performed for the 111 passengers who followed a red carpet to their Paris-bound plane. The women on the tarmac at Idlewild Airport, now John F. Kennedy International in New York, wore heels and pearls. Men wore suits and hats.
During the ensuing “Jet Age,” passengers entertained themselves on flights by playing chess and reading the newspaper. They dined on hot meals served on china and often prepared by famous restaurants, even on flights lasting only an hour.
And because there were fewer flights, there were fewer delays.
Students, read one or both of the articles in their entirety, and be sure to check out the photos from the “golden age” of air travel in the second. Then tell us:
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Should we all dress up more when we travel? Why or why not?
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How often do you travel? What do you typically wear — and why? Does anyone ever comment on your clothing, in a complimentary way or not?
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What is your reaction to the Transportation Department’s new civility campaign? Do you think that better attire and manners are needed from passengers today? Would a return to the golden age of travel enhance the travel experience for everybody, as Mr. Duffy claims?
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Overall, how would you rate your air travel experiences? How big a problem, if any, is a lack of civility? Have you ever witnessed the rude behavior, in-flight brawls or airport meltdowns that Mr. Duffy cites in his campaign video?
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The second article notes that not only was the attire in the golden age of travel very different, but so was the airline service: Passengers in the ’50s and ’60s could expect hot meals on china, plenty of legroom, wool blankets and even the occasional piano bar. What do you think airline companies could do to improve the experience of flying?
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If you were secretary of transportation and had to make a follow-up video for the department’s civility campaign, what changes — by airlines or passengers — would you recommend to make air travel truly better?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
Jeremy Engle is an editor of The Learning Network who worked in teaching for more than 20 years before joining The Times.
The post Should We Dress Up More When We Travel? appeared first on New York Times.
