Part 4 in a Jet Age Feminism series exploring the intersection of commercial aviation and gender roles.
Lynda Eck served as a stewardess, and then as a flight attendant, aboard United Airlines from 1968-2003. During that time, she witnessed seismic changes in air travel, from the entrance of men into the field in the 1970s to post-9/11 security protocols. Today, she volunteers at the Museum as a Pavilion Interpreter on Thursday mornings. Previously, she worked in the Store and led Premium Experiences on the Museum’s 747, which she refers to as her “baby.”
In 2021, Eck was a guest on The Flight Deck episode “Stories From a Stewardess” and contributed an article to the Blog, “Being a Stewardess in the 1960s.” Below, you’ll find a few insights gleaned from her era-spanning career.
Photograph of United Airlines flight attendants serving drinks in an aircraft cabin, circa 1960s-1970s. Image Credit: The Peggy L. (Eckert) Verger United Airlines Flight Attendant Collection/The Museum of Flight
When Eck became a United stewardess in 1968, it was a highly sought-after occupation. Only a fraction of applicants—around 3% to 5%, depending on the airline—were accepted. There was a slew of requirements, from unblemished skin to being unmarried, never divorced, and between the ages of 21 and 27. TWA even boasted that it was harder to get a job there than to get into Harvard.
Despite then-common perceptions of stewardesses as ditzy, Eck and her colleagues handled more than a few sticky situations with aplomb. As Eck writes in her Blog post, “During my time at United Airlines, I experienced severe turbulence, a cabin decompression, bomb threats (during the Vietnam War), a thwarted hijacking, and an emergency landing (landed safely).” Today, she’s motivated to dispel any lingering misconceptions of flight attendants (then or now) as “dumb blondes.”
But she remembers moments of levity, too. Eck even pulled a prank on a fellow stewardess once! She asked her unsuspecting colleague to climb into the overhead rack (the precursor to today’s overhead compartment) for a faux training and “forgot” about her. Like a true professional, the colleague just waved sweetly at passengers.
Photograph of models posing in United Airlines flight attendant uniforms designed by Jean Louis. Image republished for the 50th anniversary of United Airlines flight attendant service in 1980. Image Credit: The Peggy L. (Eckert) Verger United Airlines Flight Attendant Collection/The Museum of Flight
Eck's career began with the Swinging Sixties and ended with 9/11. Eck recalls not only the beefed-up security, but also insidious shifts in how people perceived one another aboard flights. Amid heightened suspicion, there was even an uptick in flight attendants training in martial arts. As Eck recalls, “You'd walk into a boarding area and instead of being excited about people that you were seeing, you were staring around and saying, ‘Where is he from? What's she doing?’”
This atmosphere was one factor that pushed Eck towards retirement. But she’ll always cherish her experience of being a stewardess, and then a flight attendant: “The places I’ve been to, the experiences I’ve had, and the friendships I’ve made over my 35-year career will be memories never to be replicated.”
Want to see a uniform from Eck’s time in the skies? Check out “The Skimmer,” a United Airlines uniform from 1968, currently on display in the Museum's temporary exhibit, Runway to Runway.
Keep checking the Blog for more entries in the Jet Age Feminism series.