The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday launched a nationwide campaign urging travelers to improve their behavior at airports and on planes as disruptive incidents remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
The initiative, dubbed “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You,” aims to restore civility in the skies and address the proliferation of disruptive behavior. The ministry said the initiative aims to “promote a national dialogue on how to restore civility and dignity to air travel.”
Disruptive passenger incidents will double in 2024 compared to 2019, and in-flight violence, from inappropriate behavior to physical attacks, will soar 400% by 2025.
The Ministry of Transport said the campaign aims to improve the travel experience while ensuring the safety of passengers, flight crew and airport staff.
In a video promoting the campaign, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy urged travelers to consider their actions, asking whether they help pregnant passengers or the elderly with their overhead luggage, or whether they simply say “please” and “thank you.”
He also urged passengers to “dress with respect” for the holiday travel season.
Of the 82 million Americans expected to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, about 6 million are expected to fly to work this year, a 2% increase over 2024, the American Automobile Association predicts.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, international tourist arrivals in the first half of 2025 increased by 5% compared to the same period last year, reaching approximately 690 million passengers. This number is 4% higher than the comparable period in 2019.
The US is not alone in calling for improved passenger behavior. The UK aviation industry introduced the ‘One Too Many’ campaign in 2018 to curb alcohol-related incidents.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency also launched an initiative to raise awareness of unruly behavior in 2019, noting that unruly passengers threaten aviation safety every three hours and that 70% of incidents involve some form of assault.
In 2015, China also began blacklisting passengers who misbehave on planes after a series of high-profile incidents.
Despite these measures, reports of unruly incidents by passengers continue to rise. The International Air Transport Association said in June that more than 53,000 accident reports had been filed by more than 60 airlines around the world, which translates to one accident for every 395 flights by 2024. This was compared to one incident for every 405 flights a year ago.
