Men and women wear suits and hats, carry little hand luggage and walk politely up stairs to board a plane. They chat calmly with passengers across the aisle. There is nary a bare foot to be seen.
“Flying,” an old-timey voice says in a video released by the Department of Transportation, “was a bastion of civility.” The public service announcement is part of a new campaignannounced Thursday to “restore courtesy and class to air travel” as the number of cases involving disruptive passengers remains higher than 2019 levels.
The video juxtaposes that vintage footage with clips that show someone’s toes swiping on an airplane screen; fists flying between travelers; slaps, kicks and bites; flight attendants yelling “stop”; and a woman arguing that she is “allowed to move my seat back!”
How to make flying civilized again? Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy — dressed in a dark suit and tie — offers suggestions on camera. “Keeping control” of your kids, helping pregnant women stow bags overhead and saying please and thank you, especially to pilots and flight attendants, are all on the list.
And another thing: “Are you dressing with respect?” Duffy asks.
The Transportation Department did not elaborate on what Duffy meant by dressing respectfully, though he complained in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday that “people dress up like they’re going to bed when they fly.”
In a post on X, he urged travelers to “Dress up to go to the airport, help a stranger out, and be in a good mood.”
Airlines outline their dress code requirements for passengers, warning that people with bare feet or offensive attire might not be allowed to board. Spirit Airlines warns against see-through clothes and exposed private parts in its language.
In past years, travelers have been forced to cover up with a blanket or have been kicked off flights for clothes that airline crews deemed against the rules.
The Golden Age of Travel starts with ALL OF US. Let’s be merry this holiday season as we fly!
Dress up to go to the airport, help a stranger out, and be in a good mood. We can bring civility back, it’s as easy as that!
pic.twitter.com/CSAYe6ME31
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 20, 2025
An announcement about the civility campaign, titled “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You,” also includes alarming statistics about disruptive passenger numbers. It notes that the Federal Aviation Administration has seen in-flight outbursts increase 400 percent since 2019.
The number of unruly passengers spiked in 2021, with 5,973, according to FAA data, compared with 1,161 in 2019. There have been more than 14,000 reports since the beginning of 2021.
But those incidents have been trending down in the past few years, notably since the requirement to wear masks on planes ended in 2022. The Transportation Department’s news release says incidents doubled in 2024 compared with 2019; Technically, the 2024 number was 1.8 times as large. This year, there have been 1,431 reports of unruly passengers.
“The Department is not only addressing unruly behavior but encouraging Americans to be the best versions of themselves,” DOT spokeswoman Danna Almeida said in an email.
She said travelers might run into stressful situations. “But it’s important to take down the temperature and be civil with one another.”
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