Turned Away by American in 1963, Carol Fair Retires at 83 as Its Most Senior Active Flight Attendant

A Final Trip Home From London

Carol Fair worked her last flight as a flight attendant on Monday, October 26, at the age of 83, bringing a career of 63 and a half years to a close. She served aboard American Airlines Flight 733, a Boeing 777 from London's Heathrow Airport to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. Fair retired as the most senior flight attendant still flying at American, which has about 30,000 of them.

Fair boarded in London wearing a large retirement sash and headpiece, and her coworkers made sure she took it easy in a spare business class seat. One of them, Bradley Clark, posted photos of her on the flight and said she was only reluctantly letting the crew look after her. American's caterers at Heathrow marked the day with a large cake.

Getting Her Start at Piedmont

In 1963, Fair was 19, just out of high school in Johnson City, Tennessee, and in need of a job. She applied first to American Airlines and was turned down. “They said I wasn't American material,” she recalled.

Her chance came when she went to the airport looking for work and met Piedmont's station manager. She told him she could answer the phone, empty the trash, write tickets and make coffee. He told her that if she could make coffee, she should get on a flight to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that was leaving in half an hour and interview there to be a stewardess. When she said she had never flown, he told her the trip was free and she would probably enjoy it. Piedmont hired her soon after it began taking on women as stewardesses, and at the time she expected to fly for six months and then get married.

Small Planes and Strict Rules

Her first base was Roanoke, Virginia, where she flew on a twin-engine Martin 404, and a trip out to Norfolk and back made about six stops in each direction. She later moved to a base in Knoxville, Tennessee, and then to Atlanta, because she wanted to fly on Boeing 737s.

In those years many airlines would not let flight attendants marry and held them to strict standards for their looks, and some made them weigh in for work and leave the job at 32. Fair married in 1969, after a long wait that she attributed to Piedmont's rules. Her husband became ill and died in 1975, just as they were about to start a family.

A Flight to London and Two Mergers

On June 15, 1987, Fair worked Piedmont's first flight from Charlotte to London. She was so excited that she did not sleep the night before. The trip showed her how far she had come, from the DC-3 of her early years to the Boeing 767, and nearly four decades later it was the reason she chose London to Charlotte for her last flight.

In 1989, Piedmont merged with USAir, the airline later renamed US Airways, and when her Atlanta base closed in the merger, she moved to the Charlotte base, where she was based when she retired. The 2013 merger of US Airways and American made her an American Airlines flight attendant, with her seniority still counted from her first day at Piedmont.

What Seniority Means to a Flight Attendant

At an airline, seniority is a worker's place on a list ranked by how long each person has been on the job. For flight attendants it matters a great deal, because the most senior have reached the top of the pay scale and get first choice of flights and days off, which are handed out by bidding in order of seniority. Fair flew mostly international trips, usually with other senior flight attendants, some of them longtime friends.

She retired at the top of the list among the flight attendants who still fly. Two women rank above her, but they no longer fly even though they have not officially retired, so Fair counts herself effectively the most senior. “I've enjoyed every minute of it. I made No. 1 out of 30,000. You can't go any higher, so I might as well hang it up,” she said.

What Kept Her Flying So Long

Fair has said the secret to lasting so long is loving the work, and that anyone who doesn't love what they do should find another job. On board her final flight she had advice for the women coming up behind her, that the beginning is hard without seniority but it builds, and that they should persevere and stay.

Her friend Meba Thompson, who started at Piedmont in 1969 and helped organize the celebration for the final flight, said Fair put in her resignation a few times and kept taking it back, and that she was tearful about leaving but knew it was time to go.

A Welcome in Charlotte

Flight 733 landed in Charlotte that afternoon, and the airport's fire trucks greeted it with a water salute, spraying arcs of water over the plane after it touched down. The honor is common for pilots on their final flight but rare for flight attendants. A long line of people waited at the airport with flowers, photographs and signs, and Fair blew kisses to the crowd.

Fair had been honored before, with induction into the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in 2008 and membership in the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame, whose plaque calls her a dedicated advocate for flight attendant rights and a goodwill ambassador for Piedmont Airlines. An exhibit at the Sullenberger Aviation Museum in Charlotte has told her story since 2025.

Home in Johnson City

Fair lives in Johnson City, a three-hour drive from Charlotte, and she often stayed over at Thompson's home rather than make the trip. Her home there is a 23-room house filled with antiques from around the world, which Thompson said looks like Tara from “Gone with the Wind.” It means all the more to Fair because she grew up poor.

Felix Guignard, a piano player from Haiti whom she met after her husband died, was her partner for 48 years until his death in 2025. In retirement she will have more time at home with her cat, Mickey. “I hate to retire, but when you get to 83, it's time to let the younger ones in,” she said.