Bette Nash, who was named the world’s longest-serving flight attendant, dies at 88

NEW YORK — Bette Nash, once named the world’s longest-serving flight attendant, has died. She was 88.

American Airlines, Nash’s employer, announced her death on social media on Saturday. The airline noted that Nash warmly cared for customers in the air for nearly 70 years.

“Bette was a legend at American and throughout the industry, inspiring generations of flight attendants,” American wrote on Facebook. “Fly high, Bette. We will miss you.”

According to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which also shared a tribute to Nash online, Nash began her career as a flight attendant with Eastern Airlines in 1957. The union noted that she was based outside the Washington, D.C. area.

Nash’s position at Eastern eventually brought her to American, which bought many of Eastern’s routes in 1990.

The Associated Press contacted American and APFA on Tuesday for more information about Nash’s death. ABC News reported that Nash died on May 17 while in hospice care after a recent breast cancer diagnosis. She never officially retired from American Airlines, the outlet added.

According to Guinness World Records, Nash was born on December 31, 1935 and began her career as a flight attendant at the age of 21. In 2022, Guinness named Nash the longest-serving flight attendant in the world – officially surpassing the previous record set a year earlier, with 63 years and 61 days of service as of January 4, 2021.

“I wanted to be a flight attendant from the moment I stepped on the first plane — I was 16 years old and sitting with my mother on a green leather couch in Washington (Reagan National Airport),” Nash told CNN in a 2016 interview, where she remembered the awe she felt when she saw a flight crew walking by.

Nash told CNN that she applied for the on-air job after graduating, “and the rest is history.”