Story highlights
Bette Nash has been a flight attendant for nearly 60 years
She began her career at Eastern Airlines in 1947
CNN
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For nearly six decades, Bette Nash has been sharing her contagious smile with the world – from 30,000 feet.
This makes it quite possible that she’s the world’s most senior flight attendant, still flying.
At 80 years of age, it’s safe to say she’s seen it all, and served them all.
“The Kennedys used to fly with us,” Nash reminisces, while preparing drinks on her daily route from Washington National to Boston Logan on American Airlines.
It’s her regular route, and her passengers are friends. Greetings include a hug and a sincere inquiry on how they’re doing.
It’s clear: Bette Nash is really piloting this plane.
It was the romance and glamor of flying, a respectable career, that attracted her initially.
“I wanted to be a flight attendant from the time I got on the first airplane – I was 16 years old, I was sitting with my mother on a green leather couch at Washington [Reagan National Airport], and this crew came up from TWA.
“The pilot and the flight attendant walked across the hall and I thought ‘oh my God,’ and I said that was for me,” Nash recalls.
Nash went on to get a college degree, but she never deviated from her dream.
She applied for a job as a stewardess, as flight attendants were then known, shortly after graduating.
Nash started her lifelong career with the now-defunct Eastern Airlines on November 4, 1957.
“And the rest is history,” she says with a large grin, peering over her happy customers enjoying their drinks in the first-class cabin.
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Bette Nash, pictured here in 1958 in her Eastern Airlines uniform, has served as a flight attendant for nearly six decades.
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"I wanted to be a flight attendant from the time I got on the first airplane," says Nash. "The pilot and the flight attendant walked across the hall and I thought 'oh my God,' and I said that was for me."
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When she first took flight, planes were a place of luxury -- almost a vacation in itself. It was a sophisticated party in the air, where everyone wore their Sunday best and ate lobster on real china.
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"People called it 'Charm School' in those days," Nash recalls. "They took you to the beauty parlor and cut all your hair off and plucked your eyebrows."
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Around 1970, Nash explains, the look started getting a little radical, with pantsuits, bold colors, short dresses and really big hair. "At one point we even went to hot pants."
Archive Photos/Getty Images
When Nash first began flying in the '50s, all flight schedules were chalked up on a blackboard, and manuals and regulations came in book form. Pictured: An archive image of incoming and outgoing flights being chalked up circa 1945.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
"You worked harder physically in those days," Nash recalls. "We served this big meal tray."
Pictured: A Canadian Colonial Airways flight attendant serves food and refreshments in the 1940s.
And that stretch of history has seen a lot of change in the world of aviation.
Flying today is a far cry from the white-gloved glamor of the golden age that Nash remembers.
When she first took flight, planes were a place of luxury – almost a vacation in itself. It was a sophisticated party in the air, where everyone wore their Sunday best and ate lobster on real china.
“You worked harder physically in those days,” Nash recalls. “We served this big meal tray. And I was the only one on the plane, so I had to take care of everybody.”
Today, glancing around the tightly packed plane, her workload is still significant, only now it involves serving drinks to hundreds, instead of full meals to a few dozen. But Nash still loves it just as much.
“I love my people. I know my customers. I know what they want. The airline thinks names are important, but I think people’s needs are very important. Everybody wants a little love,” she says.
MORE: 20 incredible vintage planes you can still experience
Before Nash began her journey as a flight attendant, she first had to look the part.
“People called it ‘Charm School’ in those days,” Nash recalls. “They took you to the beauty parlor and cut all your hair off and plucked your eyebrows.”
According to Nash, the airline also had a beautician teach flight attendants about makeup – mascara was allowed, eyeshadow wasn’t.
You also couldn’t be over a certain height and weight.
“They would take people off the payroll if they weighed too much. Or they’d give you a week or so to lose it,” Nash recalls.
Today, there are no height or weight requirements in the US, but the airlines still dictate what you wear.
And Nash has seen outfits change with the mood of each era. When she first started, the attire, like the minimalist makeup, was very conservative.
And some trends didn’t last long. “About ’65 or ‘64 or so, they came out with a royal blue uniform. It was a designer uniform from Ben Reig. We had a hat and everything but it was so blue and people couldn’t stand it. It lasted one year,” she says.
Around 1970, Nash explains, the look started getting a little radical, with pantsuits, bold colors, short dresses and really big hair.
“At one point, we even went to hot pants. We had the hot pants, the go-go boots, a turtleneck shirt that came up to here and buttoned underneath. After that, then things started calming down a little bit.”
Courtesy SFO Museum
United started coordinating their flight attendant uniforms with the company's colors in this 1939 look by in-house designer Zay Smith. These outfits were used for the airline's Douglas DC-3 service.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This 1944 look by Hollywood fashion designer Howard Greer employed TWA lettering on the shoulder. The logo could be covered with a triangular jacket flap when the attendant wanted to smoke or have a cocktail while off-duty.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This 1959 piece by Hollywood designer Don Loper for Pan Am celebrates the Jet Age with sharp, angular detailing.
Courtesy SFO Museum
In a 1965 look designed by Emilio Pucci, a Braniff International Airways hostess displays her space bubble helmet. No, these were not very practical.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Never one to be afraid of color, Pucci designed Braniff outfits with bold patterns and theatricality.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Goodbye, traditional suits. Hello, swinging '60s. Emilio Pucci designed this Braniff 1966 Supersonic Derby outfit that was sure to make the woman wearing it stand out.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This United Airlines uniform designed by Hollywood costumer Jean Louis was made in double-knit wool and in a tighter fit. These 1968 dresses came in two colors: Hawaiian Sunset and Maliblue.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This 1969 winter suit for Air France flight attendants was designed by Cristobal Balenciaga. He closed his fashion house shortly after finishing this collection.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Designed by Hanae Mori, this 1970 Japan Airlines uniform pays homage to two of Japan's national symbols. The hat features a crane motif while the belt invokes the rising sun.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Inspired by an English-style riding habit, this 1971 Pan Am outfit aimed to be both functional and fashionable with a uniform that could be worn in all seasons.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This 1971 polyester knit dress for TWA was designed by Valentino -- just in case you missed the branding on the scarf.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This polyester three-piece suit from 1976 had a Western flavor and a blouse checkered with the United Airlines logo.
Courtesy SFO Museum
The era of shoulder pads and power suits is celebrated by Yves Saint Laurent in this 1986 jacket-dress combo with kangaroo print for Qantas Airways.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This uniform created by the House of Dior is all about the polyester midi-skirt and the power dressing of the 1980s. It was worn by Union de Transport Aeriens attendants in 1987.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Eastern Airlines (no longer in service) celebrated traditionalism in this 1990 design featuring a retro hat invoking the golden age of air travel.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Christian Lacroix's atelier designed over 100 pieces for Air France from 2000 onwards, including this wool-blend dress with Japanese-style tie-belt.
Courtesy SFO Museum
This 2008 Aeromexico uniform by Macario Jimenez resurrects the polyester suit, which can be worn in both skirt and pant versions.
Courtesy SFO Museum
Dame Vivienne Westwood brought her aesthetic to Virgin Atlantic in 2014 with this scarlet tailored suit with bold gold buttons, complete with wing insignia.
MORE: Fashionable flight attendants and the designers who made the looks
But nothing’s changed more in the industry than technology. When she first began flying, all flight schedules were chalked up on a blackboard, and manuals and regulations came in book form.
Today, everything is on a screen, and for Nash this has been a big adjustment.
American Airlines was the first US airline to replace all paper manuals with tablets and iPads. All of the inflight announcements are read from the tablet now, which was a major challenge for Nash, as she’s not the most tech-savvy, she admits.
“Technology really made the difference of, ‘Am I going to stay or am I going to go?’ But even when I think I might retire or something, then I come to work and think, ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that.’ It’s stimulating coming out here,” Nash says.
“The airlines are evolving continuously, and you have to evolve with them.”
Never an awkward moment: Before inflight movies and Wi-Fi, passengers passed the time by reading books or newspapers. Or by caressing their necklaces and gazing off into the middle distance.
Card games: Airlines often provided playing cards to help pass the time. There's clearly something other than cards going on here though. Why else would a young Dick Nixon be taking notes in the corner?
Chess: And then there was chess. We're not fooled by this guy's bow tie -- even the cabin crew is two moves ahead of him.
Checkers: Back then, it seems, everyone loved children on flights. Maybe when the only alternative was chess and cards, people genuinely enjoyed being around their offspring. Maybe the drinks trolley hadn't been by yet.
Pre-dinner drinks: Today's sky bars keep their booze safely stowed. If this flight hit turbulence, the bottles would've gotten just as smashed as the passengers.
Canapes and cocktails: In-flight canapes were regularly offered to the "pearl set." Uh-oh, it's the guy in the bow tie again. Let's hope he didn't take as long to choose his food as he did to make a chess move.
Pilot power: The plane's captain, often a rugged veteran of the skies, sometimes made the rounds. The visits were good PR and helped calm the nerves of nervous passengers -- if a seventh round of martinis wasn't doing the trick.
Kids meals: Fussy children weren't catered for with cartoon character fun meals back then. Nope, these kids got whopping steaks and they were happy about it.
Silver service: Dinner for adults came with white linen table cloths and full waiter service. Caviar, salad nicoise and a charcuterie platter for her. Cupcake for him.
Young fliers: Many children were members of young fliers clubs which provided them with log books to record their travels. Pilots would sometimes stop to chat to youngsters -- hopefully to inspire them into careers in aviation and not to ask for directions.
Sweet trolley: Afternoon tea with full silver service might seem old fashioned, but check out the woman in the window seat. That dress with built-in napkin is jet-age technology in action.
Smooth ride: This publicity photo was used to show how smooth the new jets were compared to older propeller aircraft. And how much more mom enjoys this game than her daughter.
Pre-jet age: This shot shows life on board a Douglas DC-7, a plane popular before passenger jets took over. The only thing smooth aboard this 1950s piston-powered aircraft was the guy with a tweed jacket and light for the ladies.
MORE: ‘Mad Men’ meets Airplane!’: Vintage photos show aviation’s golden age
As she’s tidying the plane up for landing back in Washington, she chats with some regulars, adding a little laughter to the cabin atmosphere.
She chuckles when asked whether she thinks technology will replace her.
“They will never phase out a flight attendant, because they need the human touch. People need that human interaction,” she explains.
A lot has changed with the airline industry in the past six decades, but there’s one thing that technology hasn’t changed: the friendly faces of the cabin crew who greet you as you board the aircraft.
Nash still wears that smile like a badge of pride, and she shows no signs of quitting the skies anytime soon.