US transport chief urges passengers to ‘dress with respect’. Critics say clothes aren’t the problem

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants Americans to button up and look sharp when they fly. The reaction to his request has been swift – and mostly sceptical.

Ahead of what the Federal Aviation Administration said would be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in 15 years, Duffy launched a new campaign called ‘The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You’.

The Department of Travel video splices together clips of orderly terminals in the 1950s and 60s with recent footage of passengers fighting, stretching bare feet into aisles and arguing with cabin crew.

“Manners don’t stop at the gate,” Duffy says in it. “Are you dressing with respect?”

Speaking at Newark Airport, he took his wardrobe crusade further. “Let’s try not to wear slippers and pyjamas as we come to the airport,” he said.

Travellers say the campaign misses the point

The push has ignited a backlash across social media.

Many travellers chimed in to say that air travel feels more stressful, not less, and that Duffy should focus his attention on crowds, costs, delays and security checks.

“This isn’t the 50s when it was actually very pleasant to fly. Now we are squeezed in like cattle and it’s almost as bad as taking the bus,” wrote Bluesky user Terri De.

“As long as there’s a reasonable chance I’m sleeping on the airport floor because of flight delays, I’ll wear whatever I want,” added another Bluesky user.

Unruly incidents are rising, but comparisons are tricky

The DOT says its campaign aims to reduce violence and disruptive behaviour in terminals and on aircraft. It has recorded 13,800 unruly passenger incidents since 2021, and one in five flight attendants have reported physical confrontations.

Globally, such incidents are on the rise.

The latest IATA figures, citing data from more than 60 airlines around the world, show that there was an incident for every 395 flights in 2024.

But aviation historians say these numbers need context.

In the 1950s, plane cabins permitted smoking, hijackings occurred more frequently than today, and flight attendants faced strict, appearance-based employment rules.

Fares were also higher then, which meant fewer people were able to fly.

But air disasters were far more common. According to Airbus data, the rate of fatal accidents per year has dropped from 10 per million flights in 1961 to almost zero today.

Taken together, the so-called golden age of travel may not be as grand as Duffy is viewing it in retrospect.

Calls for formal dress just as airlines go more casual

Duffy’s appeal also comes at a time when many airlines are relaxing uniform standards.

In Australia, low-cost carrier Bonza scrapped formal uniforms entirely in 2022. Its cabin crew and pilots can wear Bonza-branded T-shirts, shorts and dresses. They can also have visible tattoos, and make-up is optional. Former chief commercial officer Carly Povey said the goal was to create something “fun, vibrant and reflective of the ‘now’.”

In the US, Alaska Airlines overhauled its appearance code in 2022, ditching its rigid male and female looks. The airline created gender-neutral options for all staff and began allowing makeup, nail polish, two earrings per ear and nose piercings.

United Airlines permits some visible tattoos and long hair for all genders, while Virgin Atlantic dropped makeup mandates for female crew in 2019 and relaxed its tattoo rules in 2022.

In the Maldives, the casual approach goes a step further. On Trans Maldivian Airways, pilots sometimes fly barefoot or in flip-flops.

A call for civility or a misread of what’s gone wrong?

For all the debate, Duffy’s appeal has found some supporters. “As long as you’re covered I don’t care what you wear. More politeness I can get behind,” wrote one Reddit user.

And aviation experts agree that a baseline of courtesy – both toward cabin crew and fellow passengers – makes travel safer and more bearable.

But many critics say the secretary’s message overlooks the structural pressures shaping modern flying: crowded cabins, stretched crews, ultra-low-cost pricing models and airports operating near capacity. Not to mention a lack of alternatives to flying.

“Air travel at one time was an enjoyable experience. Today, not so much. Airlines treat passengers like a commodity,” wrote another Reddit user.

“Best way to fix air travel is to expand and develop our domestic railroad network so people have alternate options other than taking short domestic flights.”

Whether passengers turn up in pyjamas, jeans or tuxedos, few doubt that stress, not sweatpants, is what fuels most airborne flare-ups.

And without improvements to the issues underpinning it, critics say the DOT’s campaign risks sounding like a dress-code debate in an era defined by everything but decorum.