The United States Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy recently launched a new civility campaign titled "The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You” leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday travel season.
"There’s no question we’ve lost sight of what makes travel fun—the excitement, the relaxation, the cordial conversations," DOT said in a press release. "Americans already feel divided and stressed. We can all do our part to bring back civility, manners, and common sense. When we can unite around shared values, we can feel more connected as a country."
Honestly Mr. Duffy, a genuine ‘Golden Age’ requires regulation, not requests for civility. And maybe your new job has made you feel this way, but travel remains exciting. There are plenty of great, cordial conversations taking place across the various sectors of the travel industry. Americans feel divided and stressed, yes, and they’re turning to travel to escape.
Obviously it should go without saying that passengers should be courteous to airline and TSA employees, but this should be something consumers should practice in every public setting - not just at airports.
This "Golden Age of Travel Starts with You" campaign is a masterclass in regulatory deflection. By launching a civility campaign that places the burden of a broken system squarely on the shoulders of the consumer, the Department of Transportation is actively avoiding accountability for its own failure to enforce substantive airline protections.
Let's be clear: the current state of air travel is not defined by rude passengers; it is defined by an overburdened air travel infrastructure. A true "Golden Age" is not achievable through polite requests for passengers to be nicer while they endure 14-hour delays, tiny seats, and involuntary bumping – it is achieved through robust regulation.
The anxiety and aggression witnessed at airports are symptoms of a deeper issue. They are the direct result of airlines and airports operating with razor-thin margins and minimal staffing, leading to surging failures when weather or operational concerns arise. Yes, alcohol incidents have led to plenty of naughty passengers that grab headlines, but many travelers face stressful situations every day at the airport that can lead to general bad behavior.
Calling for people to dress nicely and be kind while dealing with long lines and other delays created by an outdated system is quite the look.
Instead of focusing on passenger behavior, the DOT should be aggressively regulating things that will significantly improve the overall air travel experience, like mandating minimum seat dimensions to ensure basic human comfort and imposing significant financial penalties for excessive delays and cancellations, and also establishing automated, timely compensation for travelers affected by airline-caused disruptions.
You’re telling the consumer to be nice, but you’re rolling back on the previous administration’s passenger flight compensation plan.
Yes, Congress this year approved $12.5 billion to overhaul the FAA’s aged air traffic control systems and improve air traffic controller hiring, and efforts like that are where these types of campaigns should remain.
Put the focus on further improving everything about air travel, and people will be much happier about being at the airport and in plane seats.
A real "Golden Age" requires safety, predictability, and consumer protection. It demands that the airlines and the regulators who oversee them earn the public's trust. Until the DOT focuses on fixing the system—rather than blaming those who are trapped within it—this campaign remains more like a PR Band-Aid move over a broken system.
What do you think of this new campaign? Let me know your thoughts and follow me on social media: @EricBowman_
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