Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged Americans to bring “civility” back to air travel, in part by not dressing “like they’re going to bed.”
In a Fox Business Network interview a week out from Thanksgiving, for which an estimated 6 million travelers will be in the skies, Duffy, 54, yearned for a return to the “golden age of transportation.”
“Donald Trump talks about the golden age of transportation, the golden age of America. But the golden age in transportation truly begins with you, the traveler,” Duffy said, amid a 400 percent increase of in-flight passenger incidents since 2019, according to the DOT.
“If you just watch social media, you have brawls at the baggage claim, you have passengers berating gate agents. We have unruly passengers on airplanes. People dress up like they’re going to bed when they fly,” Duffy told Cheryl Casone, a former flight attendant, during the interview at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Duffy, who is also the acting head of NASA, also encouraged air travelers to lend a hand to their fellow passengers when needed.
“I see people getting on airplanes and they’re having a hard time taking their luggage and getting in the oversize or the above bin,” he said. “Help people out, be nice, be courteous. 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. And I think everyone’s experience is going to be that much better.”
Duffy is coming out of a particularly stressful time for fliers and those who get them to their destinations. He oversaw reduced flight schedules and thousands of cancellations during the government shutdown as air traffic controllers were spread thin. Two months before, the Trump administration had reversed a Biden-era rule requiring airlines to compensate passengers for delays and cancellations the airlines caused.
Duffy on Wednesday posted a video to his official X account stressing the same points he made in his Fox Business interview.
“Manners don’t stop at the gate,” the former The Real World: Boston cast member says in the video.
“Ask yourself: Are you helping a pregnant woman put her bag in the overhead bin? Are you dressing with respect? Are you keeping control of your children? Are you saying ‘thank you’ to your flight attendants and your pilots? Are you saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in general? The golden age of travel begins with you.”
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