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  • For nearly six decades, Betty Nash has been sharing her vibrant smile with the world, all from 30,000 feet.

  • At 80 years young, it's safe to say that she's seen it all and served them all.

  • Few people know more about the pace of change in travel than Betty, who's thought to be the world's oldest active flight attendant.

  • I wanted to be a flight attendant from the time I got on the first airplane.

  • I was 16 years old, the pilot and the flight attendant walked across the hall and I thought, oh my God, I said that was for me.

  • At the time, flying was a lavish experience.

  • It was a sophisticated party up in the air.

  • Today, glancing around the tightly packed plane, it's far from the white-gloved glamour of the golden years, yet Betty still loves it just as much as ever.

  • I love my people and I love being on the same flight all the time, that I know my customers, you know what they want.

  • The airline thinks names are important, but I think a lot of times people's needs are very important.

  • Everybody wants a little love.

  • Disposed of anything or you need anything else?

  • Thank you for flying with us this morning.

  • We hope we'll see you again soon.

  • Thank you and have a wonderful day.

  • Bye.

  • It's been a pleasure.

  • Keep going strong.

  • I'll try.

  • See you next week.

  • Okay.

  • After 59 years, there's still no stopping her.

  • I started with Eastern Airlines November the 4th, 1957 and the rest is history.

  • From the trips that I flew in the beginning, I flew these 13-hour days.

  • I remember going, you know, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami and I was the only one on the plane.

  • You worked harder physically in those days.

  • When she first flew, training was focused more on appearance.

  • People called it charm school in those days.

  • They took you to the beauty parlor and cut all your hair off.

  • You could wear mascara.

  • You couldn't wear eyeshadow.

  • You had to be a certain height and a certain weight and you were constantly being weighed.

  • And the outfits, as we saw at the Smithsonian, changed with the mood of each era.

  • The attire was, when I first started, was very conservative.

  • My gosh.

  • Then we started getting very, you know, out there in the world.

  • You know, we had the hot pants, the go-go boots, you know, a turtleneck shirt that came up to here and buttoned underneath.

  • After that, then things started calming down a little bit.

  • Yet nothing's changed more in the industry than technology.

  • When I first started flying, they would chalk everything up on a board.

  • Now you have the computer screens.

  • There's very little left of the manual way of life.

  • Everything was on a piece of paper before and now everything is on a tablet.

  • Small handheld electronic devices may be used in the airplane mode.

  • Technology really made the difference of, am I going to stay or am I going to go?

  • Oh, what a cute name.

  • And even when I think I might retire or something, then I come to work and I think, oh, I couldn't do that.

  • Oh my gosh.

  • I haven't seen you for weeks.

  • It's stimulating coming out here and even walking through the airport.

  • The airlines are evolving continuously.

  • And I think you have to evolve with them.

  • And Betty's neither deterred nor threatened by it.

  • They'll never phase out a flight attendant because they need the human touch.

  • Bye.

  • It's been a pleasure.

  • You look great.

  • And people need that human interaction.

For nearly six decades, Betty Nash has been sharing her vibrant smile with the world, all from 30,000 feet.

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