RECORD BREAKING FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Born Mary Elizabeth Burke on the last day of 1935, in Pleasantville, New Jersey, she was always known as ‘Bette’. Her parents were Martin, an engineer in the military, and Frances Eilers. She had two younger sisters.
Aged sixteen, Bette went with her mother on her first flight, going from New Jersey to Dayton, Ohio. She was so impressed by the flight crews, “With their heads held high and their uniforms perfectly pressed. I just thought ‘Oh my God!”
She recalled, “It was like they were on stage to a degree. It just looked so elegant. And romantic. It was the romance of the skies. You could take off and be in another world almost.”
Bette decided this was what she wanted to do for her career.
She got summer jobs on the Boardwalk in nearby Atlantic City, before going to study business at Sacred Heart College in Belmont, North Carolina.
After graduating, Bette worked as a legal secretary.
In 1957, Bette saw an advert for Eastern Air Lines based in Miami, who were trying to recruit air stewardesses. It called for, ‘Fresh-faced girls looking for a little adventure.’
Eastern Air Lines operated with an all-female flight attendant corps.
Bette decided this would be more glamorous than being a secretary. She applied for the job.
She borrowed a suit from one of her sisters and caught a bus down to Miami, for a gruelling two-day interview.
After being successful, she was sent to ‘Charm School’. As well as having their height and weight measured, the girls were taught etiquette and dress as well as safety and flight protocol. The stewardesses were warned that if they put on weight, they would lose their jobs.
Bette flew her first flight as a stewardess in 1958. She commented later, “Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House, everybody watched ‘I Love Lucy’ and a flight ticket cost $12.”
There was a strict dress code. They wore white gloves and a pillbox hat, high heels and stockings.
Flying was considered a luxury in those days. The attendants served lobster and champagne, with freshly carved roast beef as an alternative, and gave customers after-dinner cigarettes.
Bette transferred to Washington DC in 1961. She was once the flight attendant when John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, were flying.
Bette married James Nash in 1973, and moved to Manassas, Virginia. They had one son called Christian. He had Downs Syndrome and was diagnosed with ADHD.
To look after him, Bette flew the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle between Washington DC, New York and Boston.
Bette set her alarm for 2:10 each morning, in order to be on the 6:00am flight. It meant she would be home in time to eat the evening meal with her husband and son.
In 1989, businessman Donald Trump bought Eastern Air Lines’ ground rights and seventeen planes. Bette moved over to Trump Shuttle.
Within a couple of years, it was in serious financial difficulties. It was bought out and became US Airways Shuttle and later American Airways. Whichever incarnation it was, Bette kept working for them.
In 2008, for her fiftieth anniversary as a flight attendant, US Airways held a party for her at Reagan National Airport in Virginia. She commented that there was no way she would make her sixtieth anniversary.
As she left the airport, the plane she was on was doused with water by two firetrucks. This ‘water-salute’ was traditionally only given to retiring captains or officers.
By now, her fame had spread. People asked Bette for her autograph. The Shuttle was colloquially known as the ‘Nash-Dash’.
Bette had her regular customers and some would only book flights if she was on board. One of them said, “She never gets flustered. No matter how busy she is, she’ll always stop and ask you how you are.”
Bette was asked the secret of being a good flight attendant. “Customer service is about making the clients feel good. Everybody wants to be number one – a little love and a little attention is what they need.”
For Bette’s sixtieth anniversary in 2018, American Airlines gave her a pair of diamond earrings and donated $10,000 to the foodbank at which she volunteered.
Bette was asked what had changed in her time in the air? As well as the name (air stewardess to flight attendant), she said, “In the old days we saw a lot of mink coats. Today, we see a lot of flip flops.”
She was also asked about her most difficult flights. Bette remembered two. On one, the turbulence was so great that a toilet broke free, and on another flight, the garter on her stockings snapped – but she had to keep serving.
In 2021, Guinness World Records announced that Bette was the longest serving flight attendant in the world.
In 2024, Bette was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in a hospice in Manassas. She never officially retired and had clocked up 67 years of service at her death.
American Airlines said, “We mourn the passing of Bette Nash, who spent nearly seven decades warmly caring for our customers in the air. Bette inspired generations of flight attendants. Fly high Bette!”
The APFA (the flight attendants union) said, “She touched many with her warmth, dedication and service. RIP Bette. You won’t be forgotten.”
RIP- Repeatedly In Planes
