List of notable flight attendants explained

Notable flight attendants include the following:

• Ron Akana served the second longest career as a flight attendant. From 1949, up until his retirement in 2012, Ron worked for United Airlines cabin crew for 63 years, retiring at the age of 84.^[1]
• Ant, TV personality Celebrity Fit Club former American Airlines flight attendant
• Kathy Augustine, a flight attendant prior to entering Nevada politics
• Rico Barrera of Pinoy Big Brother Philippines Season 1 and an actor who continues to fly with Seair
• Alex Best, ex-wife of George Best
• Neerja Bhanot, was a flight attendant for Pan Am airlines, based in Bombay, India, who died while saving passengers from terrorists on board the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 on September 5, 1986. She received India's highest civilian award for bravery, the Ashoka Chakra.
• Regina Bird, Big Brother Australia 2003 winner
• Deborah Burlingame, sister of Charles "Chic" Burlingame III, pilot of hijacked American Airlines Flight 77
• Nh. Dini, Indonesian novelist and mother of French director Pierre Coffin. Worked as a Garuda Indonesia flight attendant during her early life
• Betty Ong, was a flight attendant on board American Airlines Flight 11 the first of four hijacked aircraft's on the morning of September 11, 2001.
• Madeline Amy Sweeney, was also a flight attendant on board Flight 11, Sweeney was the first to describe the hijackers, and their actions.
• Beverly Lynn Burns, American Airlines stewardess class of 1971; first woman Boeing 747 Captain in the world July 1984
• Terence Cao, Singaporean actor
• Ellen Church, first female flight attendant in history
• Uli Derickson, on duty during the TWA Flight 847 hijacking
• Brian Dowling, UK Big Brother 2001 winner
• Gaëtan Dugas, alleged Patient Zero for acquired immune deficiency syndrome
• Ruth Carol Taylor, first verified African-American stewardess, hired by Mohawk Airlines in 1958^[2]
• Roz Hanby, face of the British Airways "Fly the Flag" campaign (1970s/1980s)
• Barbara Jane Harrison, posthumously awarded the George Cross for bravery
• Jennifer Hosten, 1970 Miss World winner
• Patricia Ireland, former President of the National Organization for Women
• Kris Jenner, was a flight attendant, for a year, before marrying Robert Kardashian
• Annita Keating, Dutch-born estranged wife of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, flew with KLM and Alitalia prior to her marriage.
• Sonija Kwok, 1999 Miss Hong Kong, now a popular artist with TVB
• Evangeline Lilly, Canadian actress, who coincidentally played a plane crash survivor on Lost, worked for Royal Airlines.
• Ziana Zain, Malaysian international artist, model, actress
• Katherine Lee, American flight attendant famous for her finger wag in Delta Air Lines' in-flight safety video, which became a hit on YouTube.
• Kate Linder, actress on The Young and the Restless, who continues to fly with United Airlines on weekends when not filming.
• Catherine Maunoury, French winner of the Aerobatics World Championship in 1988 and 2000
• Pamela Bianca Manalo, a flight attendant for Philippine Airlines before she was crowned Miss Philippines-Universe in 2009
• Carole Middleton, mother of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
• Avis Miller, Playboy Playmate Miss November 1970
• Jane McGrath, co-founder of the McGrath Foundation for breast cancer.
• Nyla Murphy, lawyer, real estate broker, member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
• Naila Nazir, Pakistani air hostess who received 1985's Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) Heroism Award for bravely handling a tense and dangerous situation during the Flight PK-326 hijacking^{[3] [4]}
• Froso Papaharalambous, singer
• Iris Peterson, flew for United Airlines from 1946 until 2007, retiring at the age of 85
• Lyudmila Putina, former wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a flight attendant early in her career.
• Doria Ragland, social worker, yoga instructor, and mother of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
• Linda Louise Rowley, former beauty queen who held the title Miss Alaska USA
• Lee Seung-yeon, Korean actress/talkshow host
• Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Icelandic Airlines, former Prime Minister of Iceland and first openly LGBT Head of Government
• Ellen Simonetti, first flight attendant to be fired for blogging
• Tania Soni, beauty pageant winner
• Silver Tree, writer and producer
• Sharon Luk, 2005 Miss Hong Kong First Runner-up, artist with TVB
• Skye Chan, 2008 Miss Hong Kong First Runner-up and Miss World 2008 contestant, artist with TVB
• Gabriele von Lutzau (born Gabriele Dillmann) was a flight attendant on hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 and was credited for her loyalty to the passengers and crew. In the aftermath, she was named "Der Engel von Mogadischu" (The Angel of Mogadishu)
• Vesna Vulović, Guinness World Record holder for surviving the highest fall without a parachute
• Julie Woodson, Playboy Playmate Miss April 1973
• Queen Silvia of Sweden, was briefly a flight attendant before marrying King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
• Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked as an El Al flight attendant.
• On August 9, 2010, Steven Slater gained immediate global fame when he claimed he was injured by the luggage of a passenger whom he had confronted on an arriving JetBlue flight at New York's JFK Airport for disregarding his order to remain seated. Passengers dispute his account of this confrontation. As the incident continued, he cursed at the passengers over the aircraft's public address system, grabbed a beer, opened the evacuation slide and left the aircraft. He was later arrested and charged with several crimes.^{[5] [6]}
• On August 30, 2014, Robert Reardon of Delta Air Lines retired at the age of 90 after having eclipsed Ron Akana of United Airlines as the world's longest serving flight attendant and also having been the world's oldest active flight attendant. Reardon said the timing of his retirement was "not of his choosing."^[7]
• Bette Nash was the world's longest-serving flight attendant until her death in 2024.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 63 Years Flying, From Glamour to Days of Gray. The New York Times. 2012-03-17. Michelle Higgins. 2014-03-05.
2. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,868136,00.html AVIATION: Another First
3. Web site: History of PIA. 2 August 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090720054137/http://www.historyofpia.com/hijackings.htm. 20 July 2009.
4. Web site: FSF Heroism Award. 2 August 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090714013543/http://www.flightsafety.org/hero.html. 14 July 2009.
5. News: Enraged JetBlue Flight Attendant Set Free On Bail . August 10, 2010 . Steven Slater, 38, was arraigned Tuesday morning before Queens Criminal Court Judge Mary O'Donoghue on charges of first-and second-degree reckless endangerment, second-and fourth-degree criminal mischief and third-degree criminal trespass. Slater, of Belle Harbor, Queens apparently lost his cool after getting into a heated argument with a passenger. He slide down the emergency chute and ran to his parked car. Police later tracked him down at his Queens home where he was apparently engaging in sex . WPIX, Baltimore Sun . Barash . Stephanie . August 11, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110629160837/http://www.baltimoresun.com/travel/wpix-jet-blue-arraignment,0,6085953.story . June 29, 2011 .
6. News: Slater's Story Discredited by JetBlue Fliers . CBS News . Miller . Michelle . Slater said he was injured by a passenger who slammed an overhead door on his forehead. Several passengers saw the injury, but none saw how it happened. "When I first saw it, I thought he had just cut his head and was on his way to the bathroom to wash it and Band-Aid, and he didn't, and I thought that's weird; something's not totally right here," passenger Katie Doebler said . August 12, 2010 . August 12, 2010.
7. News: World's Oldest Active Flight Attendant to Retire . Frequent Business Traveler . Riegler . Paul . August 31, 2014 . September 1, 2014.