On my last trip back from Mexico City in 2020, a passenger pulled what is now known in some circles as “a Kennedy”.

Sitting in the first row of first class on a US airline was an American man, dressed in a button down, slacks and loafers, who took his seat by the window and immediately proceeded to remove his shoes. Then he reclined, shoving his spectacularly dirty toes onto the wall in front of him.

An air hostess kindly asked him to put his seat up until we were in the air. He sat up … before reclining again several minutes later when she looked away.

Then, while we were taxiing to take off, he got up and stumbled barefoot into the bathroom — just as Robert F Kennedy Jr controversially did during his presidential campaign.

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Only after the hostess banged on the door, saying, “Sir, you have to go back to your seat now! The plane is moving!” did he emerge. Moments later, as the plane took off and the hostess was securely strapped into her jump seat, he once again got up and opened the overhead locker to rummage around in his baggage — then he passed out while standing up, his face resting in the locker, his fly open square in the face of another traveller.

Turns out the man had taken a sleeping pill moments before embarking, turning himself into an Ambien Zombie. And while I’d like to say this is an unusual occurrence, behavioural violations on airplanes are common sights now, as Americans check our social niceties at the gate.

But finally — on the cusp of what is set to become the busiest travel season in the US ever — someone is taking a stand. The transportation secretary Sean Duffy has released a YouTube video called “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You”, urging Americans to “restore courtesy and class to air travel”. Contrasting well-dressed travellers from the 1950s to the current boors in athleisure yelling and brawling on our planes, Duffy urges fliers to take control of their kids, help pregnant women stow overhead bags and say “please” and “thank you” to pilots and flight attendants.

Sean Duffy’s YouTube video on plane etiquette

He also asks: “Are you dressing with respect?”

Later on Fox Business, Duffy expounded: “People dress up like they’re going to bed when they fly.” And, in a post on X, he urged travellers to “dress up to go to the airport, help a stranger out, and be in a good mood”.

To be fair, it is hard as hell to be in a good mood when travelling during the holidays — but Duffy does have a point.

As a former travel editor who has visited six of the seven continents, I still relish stepping on to a plane, wearing a comfortable but respectable outfit with all my body parts covered, and seeing the world unfold below me like a magic snow globe.

Unfortunately, my wonder, love and respect for flying seems to be a rare commodity these days.

In January, Spirit Airlines updated its “contract of carriage”, noting that passengers will not be allowed to board if they’re “barefoot” or “inadequately clothed”. And, according to Travel + Leisure, United, American and Delta airlines all have similar contracts, which are often ignored.

Travellers passing through Miami International Airport this month

JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

I have witnessed my fair share of bad behaviour on flights — some of it so bad that if it happened on the ground, the perpetrators would have been arrested. I’ve also seen too many poorly dressed people who’ve confused an airplane with a strip joint, buoyed by the bonus of free booze. And, with the advent of low-cost airlines around the world, where a ticket to, say, Mexico or Miami, is less than a bus fare, people are treating air travel like their God-given right — instead of a privilege.

Travellers to hot destinations are often the worst offenders as they want to get the party started early. Take Miami in the winter, during the dreaded Spring Break, which is one of the worst flights in America.

I’m thinking of one couple in particular a few years ago, on a flight from New York to Miami, who immediately removed their heavy winter coats upon boarding and then proceeded to disrobe. Sweaters, sweatpants, shirts and boots were cast aside and shoved under the seat and into the overhead locker — until he was in a tank top and swim trunks and she was literally in her bikini (to be fair, she did wear a sheer skirt over her bikini bottoms). Then came the bar cart — and suddenly their vacation was in full swing.

A smartly dressed family disembark from a plane in the 1950s

HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Then there’s Las Vegas, where female fliers most frequently sport bustiers (read: bras) and men sport flip-flops and cut-off denim shorts (aka “jorts”), as well as loose tank tops that scream “It’s Always 5 O’Clock in Vegas!” Mix that sartorial disaster with multiple cocktails at the airport lounge and … it can get frisky. Like the time I flew back from Vegas in 2023 where the entire mating ritual — meet, greet, date, mate and inevitable break-up — all happened between take-off and landing, right next to me.

Fun times.

I could go on. And on. And yes, this is America. Yes, you can technically wear what you like … but please. Have some thought for the rest of us. No one wants to see your breasts, ass, midriff, toes or other body parts. The only entertainment we want is on the screen in front of us. The party should not start on a plane, which is technically a work space not only for the pilot and air stewards but many other people — likely in the seat next to you.

And so, this year I’m with the transportation secretary as we make a simple request: this holiday season, don’t be THAT guy.

Oh, and don’t pop an Ambien when you’re 35,000 feet in the air. It will just end in disaster.

Paula Froelich is the Senior Story Editor for Newsnation and can be found at @pfro on Instagram.