Maintaining civility aloft is essential

Last week’s announcement from U.S. Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy, launching a national civility initiative under the banner “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You,” landed with unusual resonance in communities like ours. The campaign arrives in response to an alarming spike in bad behavior in the nation’s skies—a 400-percent rise in unruly in-flight incidents since 2019, more than 13,800 such cases since 2021 and physical assaults on flight attendants at a rate unthinkable a decade ago. No one disputes the need for a renewed emphasis on manners when crews are dealing with twice the level of disruption observed before the pandemic.

Duffy suggests that a gentler disposition could, in itself, restore some of the wonder once associated with air travel. He asks travelers to help fellow passengers with their bags, to guide their children through the terminal without adding to the general din, to dress with self-respect and to thank the men and women who keep the system running. These are small requests, but they acknowledge a larger truth: a nation frayed by division and impatience needs to rediscover the basic courtesies that make shared spaces tolerable. A more civil holiday season would be a welcome starting point.

Here on the Plains, we read the secretary’s remarks with a sense of recognition. What he is asking of the traveling public is, in many respects, what rural Nebraskans already do without prompting. Ours is not a region that clings to Emily Post etiquette guides, but one that defaults to consideration because it is the glue of small-town life. McCook residents would not dream of boarding in pajamas or treating an airline cabin as an extension of the living room. Air rage is not a feature of our temperament; if anything, we are reliably courteous. We’re so nice that other states tease us for being “Nebraska nice.” We’re so nice that sometimes, we’re mistaken for Canadians.

So, Secretary Duffy, you will find no quarrel here with your call to restore civility. Rural Nebraskans will gladly take the lead. If a new golden age of air travel depends on passengers who mind their manners, we are already doing our part.

There is, however, a second part to this conversation that deserves your attention and it is offered not in defiance but in partnership. For rural communities to model the behavior you seek, they must remain connected to the air system in meaningful, reliable ways. That requires sustained federal support for Essential Air Service, including the service that links McCook’s Ben Nelson Regional Airport to the wider world.

Essential Air Service is not a luxury. It is a lifeline that allows businesses to reach markets, public agencies to carry out their duties and specialist physicians to reach rural patients who depend on scheduled flights for timely care. In an increasingly mobile nation, dependable regional air links are foundational to both civic health and economic survival.

Mr. Secretary, we applaud your effort to elevate the character of American travel. We ask only that you continue to support the Essential Air Service that allows rural communities like ours to participate fully in that endeavor—and to help lead by example.