A few weeks back, United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched a campaign to bring back the “golden age” of air travel, by having passengers behave better. Well, here’s his latest “episode” in this campaign (thanks to @istrakhov for flagging this)…
The green, red, and beige flags, of air travel
Sean Duffy sat down with Alison Cheperdak, introduced as an author, influencer, public speaker, and etiquette coach. The two sit down in (first class) airline seats to talk about etiquette, with the song “Like A G6” (lol?) playing at the beginning and end:
- They discuss red flags, like standing in the aisle during boarding, boarding with smelly food, taking off your shoes, playing music or making phone calls without headphones, dressing sloppily
- They discuss green flags like helping someone with their carry-on or at baggage claim, and being kind, especially toward those who aren’t from the United States, so that we can be ambassadors for our country, and “show them what a wonderful country we are, and how civil and kind and respectful we can be”
- They discuss beige flags like switching seats, reclining seats (which Duffy describes as “the greatest debate taking place in aviation history right now”), and who gets the armrests (while sitting in first class seats, ironically)
Duffy then thanks her for her contributions on behalf of America…
There’s nothing too objectionable here, I think?
I can’t say I disagree with any of the advice in the video. I mean, I find the whole premise of this to be a bit much, but the individual etiquette tips all seem fair enough.
Now, will this actually change the way people behave? You tell me, what do you guys think? Will someone watch these videos and think “oh, I didn’t realize it was considered a red flag to make phone calls on speakerphone in public?”
Or is this more about optics of making Duffy appear to be a good guy, for the people who already act decently well? Or does it just come down to Duffy’s TV background, and him liking the attention and being on camera, whether it’s doing pull-ups at DCA, or sitting in fake airplane seats to make etiquette recommendations?
Bottom line
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sat down with an etiquette coach, to discuss how passengers should behave when flying. This is part of his “golden age” of air travel campaign, intended to encourage more civility at airports and on airplanes.
The takeaway should apparently be to not stand in the aisle, don’t blast anything on speakerphone, be nice to foreigners, etc.
What do you make of Duffy’s conversation with an etiquette coach?
