Black Internet Erupts After Government Tells Travelers Not to Wear These Specific Items in the Airport

As millions of travelers prepare to hit the skies during the holiday travel season, the government is telling travelers not to wear these specific clothing items. The post Black Internet Erupts After Government Tells Travelers Not to Wear These Specific Items in the Airport first appeared on The Root.

Nov 26, 2025 - 18:02

As millions of people prepare to hit the skies for the start of the holiday travel season, the federal government has a few new rules for passengers when they come to the airport. In response to what they report as a record rise in in-flight blowups, the U.S. Department of Transportation has rolled out a new multi-step plan they believe will bring civility back to air travel. But not everyone is feeling it.

After probably seeing more Spirit Airline altercations than they would like, their plan, dubbed “The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You,” involves asking travelers to say “please” and “thank you” to flight attendants and help pregnant women and elderly people in need. Although most people don’t have a problem with being kind to the flight crew and their fellow passengers, many are taking issue with a new dress code component. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rolled out the plan in a press conference.

“I call this dressing with some respect, you know, whether it’s a pair of jeans and a decent shirt. I would encourage people to dress a little better, which encourages us maybe to behave a little better. Let’s try not to wear slippers and pajamas as we come to the airport,” he said.

@cnn
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggests travelers dress more formally and follow common courtesy guidelines as part of the Trump administration’s “Civility Campaign” ahead of the busy holiday travel season. cnn, #news
♬ original sound – CNN

A video of Duffy’s comments posted on CNN’s TikTok has already received over 2,000 comments from people who think the government (and a white male who made the announcement) has no business telling us what we should be wearing on airplanes.

Some commenters are pointing the finger at the airlines, calling them out for cutting back services and comfort that should come with the price of their plane ticket.

“Make seats bigger, don’t lose my baggage, make carry on bags free again and I’ll wear a prom dress to the airport,” wrote someone on TikTok.

Others aren’t seeing the connection with comfortable clothing with unruly behavior.

“I wear sweatpants cuz I know I’m sleeping on the flight. Sleeping passengers are not the problem ” wrote someone else on TikTok.

Others are calling BS on the new guidelines, suggesting the mention of pajamas and slippers is specifically targeted at people of color.

“The thing about it is there are a certain type of people that they don’t feel like should be privileged enough to be on said plane in the first place,”said @tiffanylymon on TikTok. “See, and it’s dangerous when they use words like ‘lack of civility’ with things like pajamas when they already know who’s the people that you mostly see doing that. It’s youth and then minorities.”