

The role of a flight attendant ultimately derives from that of similar positions on passenger ships or passenger trains, but it has more direct involvement with passengers because of the confined quarters and often shorter travel times on aircraft. Additionally, the job of a flight attendant revolves around safety to a much greater extent than those of similar staff on other forms of transportation. Flight attendants on board a flight collectively form a cabin crew, as distinguished from pilots and engineers in the cockpit. The first flight attendant, a steward, was reportedly a man on the German Zeppelin LZ10 Schwaben in 1911. Origins of the word "steward" in transportation are reflected in the term "steward" as used in maritime transport terminology. The term purser and chief steward are often used interchangeably describing personnel with similar duties among seafaring occupations. This lingual derivation results from the international British maritime tradition dating back to the 14th century and the civilian United States Merchant Marine which U.S aviation is somewhat modeled. Due to international conventions and agreements, in which all ships' personnel who sail internationally are similarly documented by their respective countries, the U.S. Merchant Marine assigns such duties to the chief steward in the overall rank and command structure of which pursers are not positionally represented or rostered. Imperial Airways of the United Kingdom had "cabin boys" or "stewards"; in the 1920s. In the USA, Stout Airways was the first to employ stewards in 1926, working on Ford Trimotor planes between Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Western Airlines (1928) and Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) (1929) were the first US carriers to employ stewards to serve food. Ten-passenger Fokker aircraft used in the Caribbean had stewards in the era of gambling trips to Havana, Cuba from Key West, Florida. Lead flight attendants would in many instances also perform the role of pursor, steward, or chief steward in modern aviation terminology. The first female flight attendant was a 25-year-old registered nurse named Ellen Church. Hired by United Airlines in 1930, she also first envisioned nurses on aircraft. Other airlines followed suit, hiring nurses to serve as "stewardesses" on most of their flights. The requirement to be a registered nurse was relaxed at the start of World War II, as so many nurses enlisted into the armed forces. In the 1960s and 1970s, many airlines began advertising the attractiveness and friendliness of their stewardesses. National Airlines began a "Fly Me"; campaign using attractive stewardesses with taglines such as "I'm Lorraine. Fly me to Orlando." (A low budget 1973 film about three flight attendants, Fly Me, starring Lenore Kasdorf, was based on the ad campaign.) Braniff International Airways, presented a campaign known as the "Air Strip" with similarly attractive young stewardesses changing uniforms mid-flight. A policy of at least one airline required that only unmarried women could be flight attendants. Flight attendant Roz Hanby became a minor celebrity when she became the face of British Airways in their "Fly the Flag" advertising campaign over a 7 year period in the 1980s. Singapore Airlines is currently one of the few airlines still choosing to use the image of their stewardesses, known as Singapore Girls, in their advertising material. However, this is starting to be phased out, in favour of advertising which emphasises the modernity of their fleet. Airline managers commonly subjected flight attendants to various forms of discrimination from the early days of the profession until the 1990s. Flight attendants at United States-based airlines, and others as well, were forced to resign or were fired if they got married, if they were overweight, wore eyeglasses, if they turned 30 years of age (or 32 at some airlines). These discriminatory policies came under attack in the U.S. after passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Flight attendant unions like the Association of Flight Attendants used Title VII, in the courts and at the bargaining table, to bring an end to such practices and recognize the professionalism of the flight attendant career. The no-marriage rule was eliminated throughout the U.S. airline industry by the 1980s. The last such broad categorical discrimination, the weight restrictions were eliminated in the 1990s through litigation and negotiations. By the end of the 1970s, the term stewardess had generally been replaced by the gender-neutral, and more wordy, alternative flight attendant. More recently the term cabin crew or cabin staff has begun to replace 'flight attendants,' in some parts of the world because of the term's recognition of their role as members of the crew.