Happy Birthday!

To all of us that is...

It's the 75th anniversary of our Flight Attendant profession this month.

Oh boy, how strangely ironic, as this anniversary couldn't be happening at a more unhappy and difficult period in our profession.

United Airlines is taking an interesting approach.  They've just published an announcement on SkyNet (their company intranet) to mark the occasion.  They mention that there "will be anniversary events at domiciles across the system" and that they will publish "interactive material about the contributions of United's flight attendants".

I actually think their announcement on SkyNet is the nicest thing I've ever heard WHQ say about us in the over five years of reading and following their news each day.

The interesting irony, though, is at the end of their sentence: "...a profession was born."

75 years later, what I find is that our working conditions, pay, pensions, and benefits have deteriorated to the point where 'Flight Attendant' just isn't a viable, long-term profession.  My definition of "profession" is: 'a career that both rewards hard work, as well as provides sufficient financial support for retired workers that have spent a lifetime in their employers' service'.

Nevertheless, with all that's going on (and more to come I'm sure), there is a sense of pride in that we've made it this far.  Flight attendants are a completely different type of employee.  And unless you've ever been one, you have no idea what I'm talking about.  The work is different, the life is different, and there is a sense of caring and emotional intelligence that is far more prevalent amongst flight attendants than any other group of employees I can think of.

I don't have any 'interactive material' to publish like SkyNet.  Nor do I have the budget to print out '75 YEARS!' buttons to pass around.  I probably wouldn't do either one, given the current situation we find ourselves faced with today.

Nevertheless, I do want to serve up two dishes to mark the occasion:

1. The NewsReal article in full.  It's a nice one about us and worth the read.
2. A true story sent by a JSN reader.

First, here's the NewsReal Article...

May Marks 75th Anniversary of Flight Attendant Profession

This month marks the kickoff of the 75th anniversary of the flight attendant profession.  Eight courageous women of United introduced the position to the world.

In 1930, Iowa-born Ellen Church learned that Boeing Air Transport, one of United's predecessor airlines, was planning to hire male stewards to work on board its Boeing 80A aircraft flying between Chicago and San Francisco.  She thought that a woman with nurse's training could do a better job and proposed the idea to Boeing Air Transport manager Steve Stimpson, who convinced Boeing's executives, and a profession was born.

When Ellen Church was hired, she assembled a top flight team of seven nurses for the job.  The world's first stewardesses -- they were renamed flight attendants in 1973 -- not only served customers but loaded baggage, hauled fuel and sometimes even pushed planes into their hangars at night.  A profile of Church and a timeline of the decades-long flight attendant success story are found in the current issue of Hemispheres.

Other airlines did not begin to hire flight attendants until 1933.

Jane Allen, senior vice president-Onboard Service, says, "Since the days of Ellen Church, the men and women who serve as United flight attendants have consistently displayed certain characteristics that make them so successful -- professionalism, hard work, dedication and an unwavering focus on safety and service to our customers.  We at United salute everyone who serves now or has served as a United steward, stewardess or flight attendant."

Typical of the can-do spirit of United's flight attendants is Iris Peterson, who began her career in 1946 and currently ranks as the No. 1 flight attendant in terms of seniority.  In 1968, the same year that United stewardesses were first allowed to hold the job if they were married, Peterson participated in aircraft safety planning and was instrumental in making 17 different safety items part of the standard onboard equipment worldwide, including the evacuation alarm on commercial aircraft.

In honor of the tens of thousands of women and men who are now or have been United flight attendants, the Onboard division has adopted a tagline: "United Airlines Flight Attendants -- 75 years of service and safety."  There will be anniversary events at domiciles across the system, and interactive material about the contributions of United's flight attendants can be found on SkyNet.

Second, here's a story from Annie Blalock, SFOSW, who wrote to us several weeks ago and gave permission to publish her letter:

My "sleeping over" story isn't as scary as yours.....but it had a nice ending:

TIMEFRAME: Summer From Hell 2000
PLACE: ORD

After missing flights in all directions West from 0600 'till 0001, my Grandma and I ended up on the floor of the ORDSW crew lounge - yes, a 78 year old woman on the bare floor of ORDSW with no blankets, no nothing! Despite the pilots' slow-down situation, I figured we'd get into LAX or SFO where we had family.

We didn't - and I was worried sick.

Suddenly I felt a nice "nudge," a gentle awakening. "Here," said a very young Flight Attendant, "put your Gramma on MY couch - I'll take the floor."

Wasn't that NICE? I intended to take the girl to breakfast in the morning, but when we woke up, she was gone. Gramma, now 83, still calls that FA, "My Angel!"

Now, that's that I'm talking about!

Happy 75th anniversary everyone…