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

Joan Prince Crandall, believed to be the industry’s longest-serving flight attendant, retires after 66 years in commercial aviation. A Delta Air Lines employee since 2008, Crandall began in 1959 on a Douglas DC-3 and later served through mergers that formed Pacific Airlines, Air West, Hughes Airwest, Republic, Northwest, and Delta. She contrasted 1950s-era rules with post-Civil Rights Act changes, noting those policies required unmarried status and retirement at 32; Crandall credited good health and ongoing enjoyment for her long tenure, telling CNN that older rules would not stand today.