On November 19, 2025, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation launched a new program designed to usher in a golden age in travel.
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It’s titled ‘The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You’ –and it’s designed to encourage passengers across the United States to dress well and act politely while at the airport and flying.
On top of that, according to the DOT, ‘The campaign is intended to jumpstart a nationwide conversation around how we can all restore courtesy and class to air travel.’ According to the FAA, there has been a 400% increase in ‘in-flight outbursts’ since 2019.
Unfortunately, 2024 saw the total number of unruly passengers double from 2019.
Wondering what ‘unruly passengers’ means? And what does the DOT actually expect to happen from this optimistic and vague initiative? Let’s dig in.
What does ‘The Golden Age of Travel’ actually look like, according to the DOT?
‘Unruly passenger’ is a designation that the FAA makes to log incidents in which passengers become disruptive on planes, leading them to be removed. At best, a passenger gets a little tipsy and noisy. At worst, flight attendants are assaulted, investigations are launched, and law enforcement gets involved.
Fines are often levied against unruly passengers. In 2025, the FAA reports that a whopping $2.1 million has been charged in fines.
Most Americans don’t need a reminder not to berate a flight attendant or get belligerent on a flight. That being said, the DOT’s new campaign is also focused on improving the overall experience—not just preventing disaster.
Here are five questions the Secretary of Transportation would like passengers to ask when flying this holiday season:
- Do you see any pregnant women or elders who might need help placing their bags in the overhead bin?
- Are you dressing respectfully?
- Are you keeping control of your children and helping them?
- Are you saying thank you to flight attendants?
- Are you saying please and thank you in general?
However, the initiative has raised some eyebrows—not when it comes to upholding the points made above. Instead, passengers are pushing back on topics like dressing well at the airport and managing children; both are difficult in ever-shrinking seats.
Additionally, the DOT formerly repealed its Fly Rights initiative, a program that was supposed to launch this year but was nixed. Fly Rights would have sought to lay out norms in US air travel when it comes to airlines compensating customers for delays, cancellations, and other disruptions at the airport.
In short, ‘The Golden Age of Travel’ puts the onus on passengers to act polite—which few would argue is a bad thing. Airplane etiquette is important. However, some passengers would also like airlines to be held accountable for disruptions, delays, and cancellations.
