Am I Too Plain for the Plane?

We’re walking in the air. ’Tis the season of interstate, mallow-topped, turkey-stuffed travel, and the U.S. transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, has launched a “civility campaign” demanding that all of us flying for the holidays (and beyond) respect “the dignity of air travel.” Alongside images of mid-century air commuters in pillbox hats, the video contains one of the best montages of modern-day discourteous behavior since they took Jerry Springer off the air—a wretchedly captivating cacophony of swearing, spitting, and scrapping. Duffy’s bugbears include the aforementioned fisticuffs, a lack of pleases and thank yous for staff, and the reluctance of current passengers to help the aged, the infirm, and the pregnant. (The jury’s still out on whether saying “quiet, piggy” to a journalis