Bette Nash celebrated her “diamond jubilee” at American Airlines in 2017 and has been recognised by the Guiness World Record as the world’s longest serving flight attendant. Fondly remembered by colleagues and passengers, Nash dies on 17 May, at the age of 88, following a battle with breast cancer.
Nash, born in 1935, started her career as a flight attendant in 1957. At that time, she was working for Eastern Airlines, which would eventually become part of today’s American Airlines. From the very beginning she was loved by colleagues and passengers alike for warm hospitality, greeting everyone with a smile.
My favourite part of flying over the years has been greeting my passengers as they board and deplane. People really are fascinating and it’s truly been a joy.
Bette Nash, American Airlines flight attendant
“Bette has taken care of millions of our customers, around the world, for the past six decades”, American’s Chairman and CEO, Doug Parker, said in 2017, at the ceremony for Nash’s 60th anniversary with the airline. “It’s the simple things that she does each day, like greet customers with a warm smile, friendly hello and thanking them for their business that has added to her legacy and ability to create an airline that customers want to fly.”
Nash has seen the aviation industry change dramatically over the decades. When she began her career, flight tickets cost only $12 and required no reservation. While she often fondly remembered that era as aviation’s golden age when she flew with the Kennedys and served lobster and carved meats on platters, she fully embraced the impact of technology.
“Gone are the days of hand-written tickets, stickers for seat assignments and chalk boards”, Nash said, however admitting that technological enhancements have led manual processes to be replaced with automation, creating positive changes for both crew members and customers.
As America’s most senior flight attendant, she could have chosen any route to fly on, but over the past years of her service she chose to only work on shuttle flights. Based at Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), she served daily flights to Boston (BOS) and New York, allowing her to return home every night, as she wanted to care for her son, who had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome.
“I think what is most amazing and impressive about Bette is the way she warms up the entire aircraft. You walk on, you meet her, she knows your name, she remembers the conversation that she was having with you yesterday or last week or a month ago”, said Ronald A. Kurtz, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, who has been flying on the DCA – BOS route every week since 2008.
After so many years of dedicated service, Nash passed away in a hospice home, where she had been staying since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “We mourn the passing of flight attendant Bette Nash who spent nearly seven decades warmly caring for our customers in the air. She started her career in 1957 and proudly held the Guinness World Record for the longest-serving flight attendant”, American Airlines wrote in a social media post. “Bette was a legend at American and throughout the industry, inspiring generations of flight attendants. Fly high, Bette. We’ll miss you.”
