Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy discusses ensuring safety in air travel and responding to the air traffic control shortage on ‘FOX Business in Depth: The Flight Path Forward.’
With the goal to have every holiday traveler cleared for takeoff this busy winter season, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy detailed a new initiative to ensure safety in the skies and aboard America’s passenger aircraft.
“Bringing civility back, I think, enhances the travel experience for everybody,” Duffy said of his vision for the “golden age of transportation,” during an exclusive interview on the “FOX Business In Depth: The Flight Path Forward” special hosted by Cheryl Casone on Wednesday.
“So I’ve asked people for feedback… what happens at the gate? And again, are people nice to the gate agents? What happens with some of the brawls we’ve seen at baggage claim? People behaving well on the airplane?” he continued.
The Trump administration’s airline-focused civility campaign will aim to “inspire” a return to decorum and politeness while addressing a record surge in unruly passengers disrupting flights for millions of travelers, according to a press release provided to Fox News Digital.
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Since 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recorded a more than 400% increase in in-flight disturbances, ranging from disruptive behavior to violence. The agency has reported thousands of unruly passenger cases since 2021, with enforcement actions and fines rising sharply in recent years, according to FAA data.
As traffic backs up on Interstate 5, a United Airlines Boeing 737 approaches San Diego International Airport for a landing from Washington on Nov. 7, 2025, in California. (Getty Images)
Nearly one in five flight attendants reported experiencing a physical incident in 2021, while reports of unruly passengers in 2024 remained above 2019 levels, according to union and FAA data.
As part of the campaign, Duffy poses key questions every flyer should ask themselves this holiday season to help Americans reach their destinations quickly, comfortably and safely: Are you helping a pregnant woman or elderly person with placing their bags in the overhead bin? Are you dressing with respect? Are you keeping control of your children and helping them get through security? Are you saying thank you to your flight attendants? Are you saying please and thank you in general?
This season, AAA projects 81.8 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home over the Thanksgiving holiday, setting a new overall record with about 1.6 million more travelers than last year. AAA notes Thanksgiving is typically the busiest U.S. holiday for travel, and concerns over flight disruptions could lead some air travelers to switch to road trips.
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“Be nice, say ‘please,’ say ‘thank you,’” Duffy told Casone. “Sometimes you just have to ask people, ‘Hey, let’s maybe go back to an era where we didn’t wear our pajamas to the airport.’ We actually might dress up a little bit. And if someone needs help putting their luggage up in the overhead bin, help them out.”
Duffy also discussed ongoing modernization efforts at the FAA and the Department of Transportation.
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“The new system that we’re going to build is going to allow for more efficiency, more capacity in the airspace,” he said. “And so it’s not just the increased air traveler. We’re going to have these eVTOLs, the ‘Ubers in the Air.’ We have more drones in the area. So the airspace is going to become more complicated, more used.”
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