Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is on a mission to get Americans to play dress up when they travel by air, saying that wearing fancy clothing on an airplane is the first step in bringing back the “golden age of air travel.”
Duffy took to social media on Wednesday to launch a new campaign to bring civility back to air travel, and a big part of that, Duffy believes, is getting passengers to wear nice clothing.
“Bringing civility back, I think, enhances the travel experience for everyone. Sometimes you just have to ask people; hey, let’s maybe go back to an era where we didn’t wear our pyjamas to the airport. We might actually dress up a little bit,” Duffy told Fox News.
It’s not, however, all about passengers wearing nice clothing. Duffy says passengers also have other responsibilities to improve the travel experience for everyone.
In a post on X, Duffy said travelers should be:
- Courteous to fellow passengers
- Say please and thank you to flight crews
- Lend a hand to those who need it
Fox News framed Duffy’s campaign around a worrying rise in unruly passenger incidents, although that ignores the FAA’s own statistics that show these kinds of incidents have been steadily dropping since the historic highs witnessed in 2021.
In 2021, the FAA recorded nearly 6,000 unruly passenger incidents – a shocking 414% rise on pre-pandemic incidents recorded in 2019. This was mainly attributed to mask mandates and passenger stress caused by pandemic rules and restrictions.
The FAA launched a major campaign to clamp down on unruly passenger incidents, and, since then, unruly passenger incidents have plummeted by 64%.
So far in 2025, the FAA has recorded 1,431 incidents, which is on track for a significant drop in the number of incidents reported the year before.
Admittedly, this is still way above the 544 unruly passenger incidents reported in 2017, although it is partly explained by the FAA now encouraging airlines to report disruptive passengers more and a general rise in air travel.
How do airline dress codes compare?
Nowadays, many airlines don’t publish specific dress codes, but often tucked within their contract of carriage, they’ll have rules that list the kind of inappropriate dress that could result in you being booted from a flight.
 | • No bare feet • Delta says it can deny boarding if someone’s “attire, hygiene, or odor creates an unreasonable risk of offense or annoyance to other passengers.” |
 | United says it won’t accept passengers who are “barefoot, not properly clothed, or whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or offensive.” |
 | Spirit’s contract of carriage says it won’t allow passengers on board if they are “barefoot or inadequately clothed, or whose clothing or article, including body art, is lewd, obscene, or offensive in nature. • Inadequately dressed includes: see-through clothing; not adequately covered; exposed breasts, buttocks, or other private parts. |
 | JetBlue won’t let passengers board if they are barefoot or have an “offensive” odor, but otherwise, the airline does not have a stated dress code. |
 | Frontier’s contract of carriage states it can refuse boarding to anyone “who is barefoot or who is not otherwise fully clothed in clothing that is not lewd or obscene, threatening, intimidating, or would be objectionable to reasonable persons.” |
 | American Airlines says passengers should be “respectful that your odor isn’t offensive” and “dress appropriately; bare feet or offensive clothing aren’t allowed.” • The airline does not state what counts as offensive clothing. |
Bringing civility back!
All.for that including not yelling and pointing at your fellow passengers things like “quiet quiet piggy”
What a douchbag Sean Duffy is!
You must be missing the professional and highly skilled Sec of Transportation , who is a real and true douchebag – loser Pete Buttigieg. I’ll take Duffy any day.
You got that right!!
Civility LOL! They should start with the “Quiet, Piggy” bully.
I find it interesting that this man is suggesting “proper” attire for air travel while standing next to a man wearing his suit coat unbuttoned while standing and wearing a tie the hangs below his belt line. It’s hard to take this guy seriously while the President doesn’t follow basic men’s dressing protocol.
I have never agreed with Duffy (or the administration he is part of) however, in this case I agree 150%.
I’m so sick of seeing the American public (yes Americans) boarding flights in tank tops, pajamas, flip-flops, beach wear, and other innappropriate attire. I don’t think we need to go back to the 50’s and 60’s with suits and hats/gloves but restore common sense and dignity.
Of course most of the undignified badly dressed passengers probably don’t know better but at least try.
So often I’ve flown Europe to USA and see non-Americans roll their eyes at Americans.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wearing a tank top, flip flops or beach wear. As long as I’m appropriately covered up it shouldn’t matter. If I can wear it when walking down the street there is no reason why I can’t wear it on a plane.
Soooooo American
You should also dress for your destination not wearing beach cloth going to Europe.
some look they just got off the couch and sloppy on the plane,
No wunder the Americans stick out, orare under dressed for the different climate.
It takes the same time to put on a pair of nice pants and shirt, then sloppy pants and a shirt.
So many nice casual things are on the market, comfartable for a long flight, you don’t have to overdress, but nice.
When I’m going to spend several hours crammed like a sardine inside a metal tube I’m about being comfortable, & a hoodie, a top, shorts & flip-flops constitutes “adequately clothed.” I’m not dressing up but I don’t look or smell like I slept in a dumpster.
And whether or not I’ve slipped out of my flip-flops I keep my feet on the floor.
Maybe, once the seats are more comfortable, the seats wider, AND more space in front for knees like two generations ago, THEN we can get dressed up for a flight.. Treat people like sardines, and they will dress accordingly.