ABOUTOn my last trip from Mexico City in 2020, a passenger pulled out what is now known in some circles as a “Kennedy.”
Sitting in the first row of first class on an American airliner was an American dressed in button-ups, slacks and loafers, who took his seat by the window and immediately began taking off his shoes. He then leaned back in his chair, resting his incredibly dirty toes on the wall in front of him.
The flight attendant kindly asked him to raise his seat until we were airborne. He sat down… before leaning back again a few minutes later when she looked away.
Then, while we were taxiing for takeoff, he stood up and walked barefoot to the bathroom – as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. controversially did during his presidential campaign.
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Only after the hostess knocked on the door with the words: “Sir, it’s time for you to return to your seat! The plane is moving!” he appeared. Moments later, with the plane taking off and the flight attendant securely strapped into the jump seat, he stood up again and opened the overhead locker to rummage through his luggage – he then passed out while standing up, his face pressed against the locker and his fly open in the face of another traveler.
It turns out that the man took sleeping pills a few minutes before departure, turning into an Ambien zombie. And while I'd like to say it's an unusual occurrence, disruptive behavior on airplanes is now commonplace as Americans test our social niceties at the gate.
But at last on the threshold of what is to become busiest tourist season in the USA, ever – someone takes a certain position. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted a YouTube video titled “The Golden Age of Travel Begins with You,” calling on Americans to “restore civility and class to air travel.” Comparing the well-dressed travelers of the 1950s with today's athletic louts screaming and fighting on our planes, Duffy encourages pilots to take control of their children, help pregnant women stow luggage and say “please” and “thank you” to pilots and flight attendants.
Sean Duffy's YouTube video on airplane etiquette
He also asks, “Do you dress respectfully?”
Later on Fox Business, Duffy explained: “People dress like they're going to bed when they fly.” And in a post on X, he urged travelers to “dress up for the airport, help a stranger and be in a good mood.”
Honestly, it's damn hard to be in a good mood while on vacation, but Duffy's right.
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As a former travel editor who has visited six of the seven continents, I still get a kick out of boarding a plane wearing comfortable but respectable clothing, covering every part of my body, and watching the world unfold beneath me like a magical snow globe.
Unfortunately, my wonder, love and respect for flying seems rare these days.
In January, Spirit Airlines updated its “contract of carriage,” noting that passengers would not be allowed to board if they were “barefoot” or “inappropriately dressed.” According to Travel + Leisure, United, American and Delta airlines have similar contracts that are often ignored.
Travelers passing through Miami International Airport this month
JOE RADLE/GETTY IMAGES
I've witnessed my fair share of bad behavior on flights – some of it so bad that if it happened on the ground, the perpetrators would be arrested. I've also seen too many poorly dressed people mistaking the plane for a strip club, excited by the bonus of free booze. And with the advent of low-cost airlines around the world, where a ticket to, say, Mexico or Miami costs less than a bus fare, people have come to view air travel as a God-given right rather than a privilege.
Travelers heading to hot destinations are often the worst offenders as they want to get the party started early. Take Miami in winter, during the terrible spring break, which is one of the worst flights in America.
I recall one couple in particular, flying from New York to Miami several years ago, who immediately removed their heavy winter coats upon boarding and then proceeded to strip. Sweaters, sweatpants, shirts and boots were discarded and stuffed under the seat and into the overhead locker – until he was in a tank top and swim trunks and she was literally in a bikini (to be fair, she was wearing a sheer skirt over her bikini bottoms). Then the bar cart arrived – and suddenly their vacation was in full swing.
An elegantly dressed family exits an airplane, 1950s.
HALTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Then there's Las Vegas, where female pilots tend to wear bustiers (read: bras) and men tend to wear flip-flops and cut-off jean shorts (called “shorts”), as well as loose tank tops that read “It's always 5 o'clock in Vegas!” Mix this sartorial fail with a few airport lounge cocktails and… it can get frisky. Like that time I was flying back from Vegas in 2023, when the entire mating ritual—meeting, greeting, dating, mating, and the inevitable breakup—happened between takeoff and landing, right next to me.
Fun times.
I could go on. And further. And yes, this is America. Yes, technically you can wear what you like… but please. Think about the rest of us. No one wants to see your breasts, butt, belly, toes or other body parts. The only entertainment we need is the screen in front of us. The party doesn't have to start on the plane, which is technically a workplace not only for the pilot and stewards, but also for many other people – probably in the seat next to you.
So this year, the Secretary of Transportation and I have a simple request: Don't be THAT guy this holiday season.
Oh, and don't turn on Ambien when you're at 35,000 feet. It will just end in disaster.
Paula Frelich – Senior Features Editor NewsNation and it can be found at @pfro on Instagram.
