US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is urging air travellers to dress better and be more civil - and it's touching a nerve at a time when many Americans consider air travel more frustrating than ever.
Ahead of what's expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel season in 15 years, Duffy launched a campaign last week titled The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You, in which he harkened back to the 1950s and 60s to call for a return to civility and class in air travel.
But as air traffic controllers remain short-staffed and customers face frequent flight delays, both social media users and aviation experts say Duffy is missing the point.
A video ad for the Department of Transportation's campaign juxtaposes old footage of smiling airport staff and orderly passengers with modern social media videos of people starting fights on planes, putting their bare feet up on seats and engaging in other disruptive behaviour. Manners don't stop at the gate. Things aren't what they used to be, Duffy chimes in. Let's bring civility and manners back. Ask yourself, are you helping a pregnant woman put her bag in the overhead bin? Are you dressing with respect?
The Federal Aviation Administration predicts this week will be the busiest Thanksgiving travel season in 15 years - with more than 52,000 flights on 25 November alone. And aviation experts say Duffy's message won't have much effect on the flying atmosphere.
Scott Keyes, a flight expert and founder of the flight deals site Going.com, told the BBC that while it sounds great to ask everyone to just be nicer to each other, in terms of the actual efficacy of that message, you might as well ask a wall to start printing you money.
Very few people show up for their flight itching to pick a fight with another passenger, Mr. Keyes said. And once they reach the level of agitation where they've started picking a fight with a flight attendant or passenger, he said they're unlikely to remember Duffy's words or calm down.
Since the secretary started posting about the campaign on social media, some of his subsequent posts have been flooded with thousands of comments critical of Duffy's message.
If you want us to be respectful humans at the airport, stop treating us like cattle, one user commented. Remove the demoralizing and humiliating TSA checks (that accomplish nothing) and find a way to get the airlines to give more than 2 inches of space per seat.
Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, told the BBC that while Duffy makes a valid point that being considerate is important, his call to dress nicer won't change a thing.
You could be dressed in black tie and still be a jerk, and you could be wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt and be the most considerate person in the world. The clothes, in this case, do not make the person, Mr. Harteveldt said.
A number of commenters on Duffy's social media post have pointed out that the reason they dress so casually is because of how cramped plane cabins have become, as well as the expectation of extended delays.
As more and more travelers weigh in on Duffy's initiative, the conversation surrounding civility and the complexities of air travel continues to evolve. Can the culture of flying be improved without addressing deeper systemic issues? Time will tell.
