Trump's transit chief longs for 'golden age' of flying. Banning sweats won't cut it, experts say

"Apparently nostalgic for the Champagne, pillbox hats and soft-lit glamour that supposedly characterized the skies in the 1950s and '60s, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy urged airline passengers to dress nicely and mind their manners ahead of the year's busiest travel week. "Are you dressing with respect?" he asked in an online video. "Are you saying please and thank you?""

"The PSA leans hard into earlier-era romance. It opens with Frank Sinatra's "Come Fly With Me" layered over grainy airport clips as a narrator proclaims that "air travel is a miracle of American ingenuity. ... We respected the dignity of air travel. ... Flying was a bastion of civility." Moments later, the footage jumps to passengers brawling in terminals and shouting at flight attendants before Duffy appears on screen urging travelers to bring bygone civility back to air travel."

"Duffy's call to action didn't land smoothly. The video was mocked over social media and on "The Daily Show" this weekend, when host Ronny Chieng asked, " Are manners the most important thing for the FAA to be dealing with right now?" According to historians and industry analysts, not really. University of Nevada aviation historian and former airline pilot Dan Bubb said, although civility is important - and violent incidents are unforgivable - manners and mink coats won't fix the problem."

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy urged airline passengers to dress nicely and mind their manners before the busiest travel week, invoking a nostalgic 'golden age of travel.' The Department of Transportation released a civility campaign PSA set to Frank Sinatra's 'Come Fly With Me,' contrasting romanticized mid-century air travel with modern terminal brawls and confrontations. The PSA encouraged politeness to reduce unruly passenger behavior. The video drew mockery on social media and late-night television. Historians and industry analysts say nostalgia and improved manners alone cannot resolve systemic changes to aircraft interiors and airline operations that affect passenger behavior.

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