The world’s oldest flight attendant will celebrate her 65th career

HAS86-year-old Bette Nash has officially become the oldest and longest-serving flight attendant in the world, according to the Guinness World Recordsrelayed by Slate. The employee of the American Airlines company began her career in 1957. Next fall, she will celebrate her 65 years of flight. His favorite route: New York-Washington-Boston. Although she can work on the flight of her choice, she prefers this one in order to return home every evening with her handicapped son whom she still takes care of today.

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After so many decades with American Airlines, Bette Nash is now a witness to the evolution of this profession. She says that in her early days, travelers would buy life insurance from a vending machine before boarding and the airline would check her home to make sure she wasn’t living with a man, as flight attendants had to be single. “You had to be a certain height, you had to be a certain weight. It was horrible before. You would put on a few pounds and you had to keep weighing yourself, and then if you stayed like that, they took you off the payroll,” she told ABC News.

$12 flights

Bette Nash recalls that at the time, passengers paid the flight attendant before boarding. The ticket price was quite different. The stewardess says her first flights cost $12 between New York and Washington. “We used to hand out cigarettes and matches…During the flight, after the meal, I walked around with Kents and Marlboros,” she recalls.

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