Trump administration launches airline civility campaign for holiday travelers nationwide

With the goal of getting every vacation traveler cleared to take off this busy winter season, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy detailed a new initiative to ensure safety in the skies and aboard America’s passenger planes.

“I think bringing back civility enhances the travel experience for everyone,” Duffy said of his vision for a “golden age of transportation” during an exclusive interview on the “FOX Business In Depth: The Flight Path Forward” special hosted by Cheryl Cassone on Wednesday.

“I asked people for their opinions… What happens at the gate? And again, are people nice to the gate agents? What’s going on with some of the fights we’ve seen at baggage claim? People behaving well on the plane?” Continue.

The Trump administration’s airline-focused civility campaign aims to “inspire” a return to decency and civility while addressing a record rise in unruly passengers disrupting flights for millions of travelers, according to a press release provided to Fox News Digital.

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Since 2019, the FAA has recorded a more than 400% increase in in-flight disturbances, ranging from disruptive behavior to violence. The agency has reported thousands of unruly passenger cases since 2021, with enforcement actions and fines rising sharply in recent years, according to FAA data.

Nearly one in five flight attendants reported a physical incident in 2021, while reports of unruly passengers in 2024 remained above 2019 levels, according to union and Federal Aviation Administration data.

As part of the campaign, Duffy asks key questions every traveler should ask themselves this holiday season to help Americans get to their destinations quickly, comfortably and safely: Would you help a pregnant woman or elderly person put their bags in the overhead bin? Do you dress respectfully? Are you keeping control of your children and helping them get through security? Would you say thank you to the flight attendants? Do you say please and thank you in general?

This season, AAA expects 81.8 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home over the Thanksgiving holiday, setting a new record with an increase of about 1.6 million passengers over last year. AAA notes that Thanksgiving is typically the busiest U.S. holiday for travel, and concerns about flight disruptions may lead some air travelers to turn to ground trips.

“Be nice, say please, say thank you,” Duffy told Casone. “Sometimes you just have to ask people: ‘Hey, let’s go back to an era where we didn’t wear pajamas to the airport.’ We might actually get dressed a little. And if someone needs help putting their luggage in the overhead bin, help them out.”

Duffy also discussed ongoing modernization efforts at the FAA and DOT.

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“The new system we will build will allow for greater efficiency and capacity in the airspace,” he said. “So it’s not just more air travel. We’re going to have these vertical take-off and landing aircraft, “Uber is in the air.” We have more drones in the area. “So the airspace will become more complex and more used.”

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