Industry’s Longest-Serving Flight Attendant Retires After 66 Years

Joan Prince Crandall, believed to be the industry’s longest-serving flight attendant, is set to retire from the sky after 66 years.

Prince Crandall — who has been working for Delta Air Lines since 2008 — looked back on her career and the industry changes she experienced along the way.

“In this day and age, [the policies of the ‘50s] would have never happened,” she told CNN. “[The Civil Rights Act] changed life for you and me and women in the country, but it was a big change for flight attendants.”

According to the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, prior to 1964’s passage of the Civil Rights Acts, airlines required that stewardesses “remain unmarried” and retire at age 32.

“The airlines wanted young women who had a glamorous look,” Prince Crandall said, recalling her early days when the job was considered something women did “for about two years.”

The frequent flyer fell in love with aviation at a young age, as her father was a pilot for the now-defunct Northwest Airlines. She began her career with Pacific Airlines in 1959 on a 24-passenger Douglas DC-3. Through mergers and consolidations she would go on to work for Air West, Hughes Airwest, Republic Airways, NorthWest, and Delta.

“I’ve been lucky,” Prince Crandall said as she prepared to pass the torch. “I’m physically healthy, and it’s still fun.”