Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged the public to be more polite and wear nicer attire during the “busiest” Thanksgiving travel season ever, which is sure to test people’s patience.
Following up on the Transportation Department’s launch of a civility campaign last week, Duffy railed against rowdy passengers who take their shoes off on flights and put their bare feet up on the chair ahead of them, calling for the public to be “cognizant and courteous.”
“We’ve seen … maybe a degradation in civility, in the airspace,” Duffy told reporters during a press conference Monday. “You can’t legislate that, right? You can’t mandate it.”
“I think you won’t get a better result unless you make the ask.”
As part of his call for better civility, Duffy also encouraged buff passengers to step up and help others with heavy bags, calling on the public to listen to their “better angels.”
“Let’s try not to wear slippers and pajamas as we come here,” he said. “If we can help someone as we get on the aircraft that might need to help putting their bag in the overhead bin, and you’re a little stronger, a little buffer, you’ve been lifting, stand up and offer to grab that bag and put it up for someone.”
Duffy also assured the public that airports will have “solid” staffing to ensure the skies are safe despite the staffing snarls with air traffic controllers during the government shutdown.
“In regard to air travel, this is going to be the busiest Thanksgiving that we have on record,” Duffy told reporters Monday. “This week, there will be 31 million passengers flying by air.”
“We anticipate there’s going to be solid staff in our towers, and TRACONs and centers throughout the airspace,” he continued before later adding: “Safety is paramount.”
That’s an uptick from projections last week, when the FAA estimated it would be the busiest travel season since 2010.
Just a few weeks ago, Duffy and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced plans to cut 4% of flights at dozens of major airports, and to go up to a 10% reduction by mid-November due to staffing shortages as a result of the government shutdown.
Since Congress reopened the government and air traffic controllers, as well as other workers, got paid, the Trump administration announced it will be handing out $10,000 bonuses to controllers who didn’t miss a shift during the record-breaking 43-day stretch without pay.
During the shutdown, Duffy had raised concerns about a sharp uptick in retirements of air traffic controllers, who had already been chronically understaffed. But officials said that won’t impact Thanksgiving flights.
“Putting in paperwork to retire isn’t the same as leaving the job,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford explained. “So we’re more than adequately staffed to get through the holidays. We are getting more folks through training faster than what we have seen in prior years.”
Roads are also expected to be congested as an estimated 73 million Americans are expected to drive for Thanksgiving, according to data from AAA.
“We anticipate the busiest travel on the road in the afternoon of this coming Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday,” Duffy revealed.
“We have incredible gas prices, on average $3.02 a gallon.”
