Kayak is making it much easier for travelers to ensure they get the best flight deal thanks to the rollout of its new PriceCheck tool.
19.02.2024 - 10:21 / nytimes.com / Airlines
In 1958, when Mary Pat Laffey Inman became a stewardess — as they were then called — for Northwest Airlines, she was 20 years old and the clock was already ticking. At 32, she would be forced to retire. That is, if she didn’t marry, get pregnant or even gain too much weight before that: All were grounds for termination. It was the golden age of aviation for everyone except, perhaps, the women serving in-flight meals to the nattily dressed passengers.
Six years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and female flight attendants began to join forces against sexism.
In 1970, Ms. Laffey Inman, a union leader and Northwest’s first female purser — the lead attendant on a flight — spearheaded a class-action suit, Laffey v. Northwest Airlines Inc., that resulted in the airline paying more than $30 million in damages and back wages in 1985. It also set the precedent for nondiscriminatory hiring of flight attendants across the industry. But even then, not everything changed: Flight attendants on some airlines were still subjected to “weigh-ins” into the 1990s. (Northwest merged with Delta Air Lines in 2008.)
Now, decades after the landmark decision, Ms. Laffey Inman, 86, is one of several former flight attendants featured in “Fly With Me,” an “American Experience” documentary that chronicles how women fought to overcome discrimination in the airline industry. It premieres on PBS on Feb. 20. The New York Times spoke to Ms. Laffey Inman about how she made history. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I was working at Montefiore Hospital, in Pittsburgh. I always wanted to travel, ever since I was a kid. As a flight attendant, I could travel — all expenses paid. I thought it was wonderful. Other stewardesses and I laugh about how lucky we were to be in the industry at that time. We would bid for three-day layovers in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo. A limo would be there to pick you up and take you to the hotel.
Kayak is making it much easier for travelers to ensure they get the best flight deal thanks to the rollout of its new PriceCheck tool.
A Breeze Airways flight diverted after a passenger's laptop caught fire, the Aviation Herald first reported.
Passenger disputes with flight attendants keep making headlines. In July, American offloaded a passenger after he got into an argument with a flight attendant. In August, United temporarily banned a woman from flying after she refused to follow a flight attendant's instruction to return to her seat.
Air New Zealand has apologized after it charged a married couple $8,000 to change their flight.
Airlines are trialling new techniques to shave minutes off turnaround procedures as a way to cut costs.
Delta Air Lines added a second flight to view the total solar eclipse from 30,000 feet after the first flight the airline announced sold out in less than 24 hours.
If you missed your chance last week at a seat on Delta Air Lines' solar eclipse flight, you may want to head right back to the airline's booking site.
Airfares have gotten more expensive in recent years. Yet, more Americans are traveling than ever before, with over 54 million traveling abroad in 2022, per the International Trade Administration.
Travelers will have more flight options to visit Japan this summer.Announced Thursday, American Airlines will launch a new flight route between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on June 28. The new route makes American the only U.S.
Australian airline Qantas has delayed the start of its flight from Sydney to New York — slated to be the longest flight in the world — to 2026, citing aircraft manufacturing delays.
Emirates will begin flying to Bogota, Colombia, the airline said Wednesday.
Fifteen-hour flights are becoming the norm these days now that aviation engineers have designed aircraft that can easily make those long-haul trips. Currently the longest journey is from New York City to Singapore (18.5 hours) but Qantas Airlines is set to debut a new offering next year—from Sydney to London, and Sydney to New York—flights that will come in at 20 hours. Most Qantas international flights are long-haul by definition (given Australia’s geographic situation) but their mastery of the business class experience makes them a pleasure to fly rather than an endurance test. During a recent 15 hour and 45 minute flight from Melbourne to Dallas I had the opportunity to inspect their business class offering on their 787-9 Dreamliner. Overall, the quality of the experience neutralizes the slog of 15+ hours with fine dining, great wines, comfortable seats and a great cabin crew.