Has Air Travel Gotten Way Too Casual?: Why Are We Wearing Pajamas?

You have surely noticed how casual air travellers are dressing.  Even trips to the supermarket seem to be just fine in your PJs for certain people.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy thinks it's time to restore decorum to the airways and urged the flying public to stop wearing pajamas while flying and noted "a degradation in civility" by air travellers as he announced a civility campaign to also encourage patience and courtesy while travelling.

Duffy is encouraging air travelers to "say please and thank you to our pilots and to our flight attendants" and to, bluntly, dress "with some respect."

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The transportation secretary discouraged wearing slippers and cozy pajamas to the nation's airports, reasoning that dressing nicer can possibly help travelers to behave better.  The lessons in manners didn't end with attire.  In addition to being polite, air travel will be more enjoyable for everyone by extending grace and common courtesy.

That can be as simple as helping fellow passengers who are struggling to put their bags in the overhead bins "as a common courtesy and civility."

Duffy is raising the issue because of a 400% surge of in-flight disturbances since 2019. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data describes issues like disruptive behavior to even violence.

Almost 20% of flight attendants reported they experienced a physical incident in 2021.  Passengers are increasingly unruly, with reports above pre-pandemic levels in 2024, according to union and FAA data.

Jacqueline Whitmore is the founder of the Protocol School of Palm Beach in Florida and a former flight attendant.  She told Fox News Digital the way people dress affects their behavior.

"The way we dress influences how we feel, how we behave and even how others respond to us.  When we take the time to dress with intention, we naturally carry ourselves with more confidence and self-respect."  --Jacqueline Whitmore

There should be some reasonable accommodations; young children and babies will likely be more comfortable wearing their favorite pajamas.  However, babies and toddlers present an entirely different problem, so pack your patience, noise-canceling headphones, and a little grace for those parents.  I've been that parent struggling to keep a two-year-old from screaming during the entire flight, uggh.