In the United States, it’s not unusual to see flight attendants with 40+ years seniority at a given airline. However, this has to be some sort of a record for a regional carrier.
In this post:
Flight attendant retires from regional airline after 42 years
Air Wisconsin is a regional airline that has been around for decades, and which has operated feeder flights on behalf of several major US airlines, most notably American Airlines and United Airlines. Generally speaking, both pilots and flight attendants at regional airlines don’t stick around for all that long.
Pilots work at regional airlines to build up experience until they can land a job at their “forever” airline (ideally one of the “big three” US carriers). Meanwhile flight attendants at regional airlines often try to eventually get a job at a major airline, or perhaps change careers, realizing how exhausting it is to be a flight attendant.
That’s why a retirement that Air Wisconsin is celebrating is so remarkable. The airline has taken to social media to celebrate flight attendant Carol Brennan, who has been a flight attendant at the airline for 42 years. The airline had a celebration for her at her base of Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to celebrate her retirement.
What an incredible career!
If you take a long haul flight on a US airline, it’s not unusual to find that most of the crew members have 30+ years seniority, and there might even be some crew members with 50+ years seniority (American has an 86-year-old flight attendant who has been at the airline for over 65 years). At the major airlines, there’s a big incentive to stick around for a long time, since scheduling is all seniority based.
So while at first you might be on reserve a lot and operating undesirable domestic trips, when you’re senior you can basically bid for whatever you’d like, which is kind of great. Not only does this allow you to visit some fun places, but you can also minimize the number of days you work. Rather than constantly criss-crossing the country, you might just be working a few trips to Singapore per month.
That’s what makes it so noteworthy to stick around a regional airline for so long:
- For one, Air Wisconsin operates CRJ-200s with just one flight attendant, so Carol spent most of her career working alone in the cabin
- Given the number of takeoffs and landings that regional jet flight attendants have on the average day, Carol might just have set some sort of a record in terms of the number of segments flown as a flight attendant, the number of safety demonstrations performed, etc.
- Being senior at a regional airline has benefits in terms of being able to pick your days off, but it’s not like there are all that many desirable overnight layovers you necessarily want to plan around, or that you can minimize the days you have to work by operating ultra long haul flights
Huge kudos to Carol, because spending 42 years working as a regional jet flight attendant sounds exhausting to me!
Bottom line
An Air Wisconsin flight attendant is retiring after 42 years at the airline. While we have a lot of very senior flight attendants at US airlines, I had no clue that anyone stuck around at regional airlines for 40+ years. Congratulations to Carol on an amazing career, and a well deserved retirement. I imagine that you have to love what you do to stick around for that long.
Anyone else impressed by this flight attendant spending 42 years at Air Wisconsin?
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I remember when I was a pilot at Chautauqua on the EMB-145. We had a quite a few senior flight attendants that had been with the company for 20+ years. They enjoyed working alone and were very used to being their own boss in the cabin. When the company began flying E175s with two flight attendants there was naturally some friction amongst the loners.
I had the pleasure of meeting Carol when she first came to Air Wisconsin. I retired from Air Wis as a pilot five years ago. Carol and I worked many, many flights together. I have always been in awe of her ability to never have a bad day. Her warmth and good humor has always been genuine.
Congrats Carol. I hope your retirement is fulfilling!
Don Rheinhart
I worked with Carol early in my career. What an amazing lady and a well deserved retirement.
I was thinking about this situation. I think that for some people they do not aspire to move up and be at the top. Some people are quite content with having a decent job and getting paid and having enough of their own time. I think that she was very happy running the small planes and short routes and after not too long she could choose the routes she wanted. She may even have been able to be home for her family most nights. Congrats to her on her retirement.
Carol is a delightful person whom I had the provlidge of working with in DEN. Wishing her all the best!!
Congratulations! Miss seeing you! What an accomplishment! Enjoy no more commuting, no more delays, no more cancellations. No more crossing the seat belts, no more hotels and the list goes on❤️ you so deserve this! Enjoy your time off✈️️
Congrats Carol ! It was a pleasure flying with you …. I’m coming up on 40 yrs in November. Best of luck
Amazing. Congrats to Carol!
What an amazing story! Congrats Carol! Well deserved. Enjoy your retirement.
I would imagine Carol and I crossed paths. I flew out of FWA to make connections at ORD weekly during the early 80s. I always flew Air Wisconsin from FWA. Congrats to her!
Congratulations Carol❣️ You are a true inspiration to all of us❣️
A BIG CONGRATS to Carol! Well deserved! As a 40+ yr F/A myself, I have found flying around the World in any cabin, from First to Economy as a passenger, more exhausting than actually getting up and having the freedom to work the flight walking about the plane. I’m sure not every F/A agrees with my opinion but for me, sitting down in a seat wears me out. So much easier to work. A different kind of tired.
Carol was an amazing FA who always genuinely cared about her passengers. She will be missed!
Congratulations to Carol. Air Wiscomson had BAE 146 with 2 FAs till around 2007.
Incredibly energetic & warm smile! Congrats Carol, I think we can all say we appreciate & salute you!
40 + years at Piedmont! Suburban/Allegheny/Piedmont! Hired on the unpressurized Shorts 330/360. Fokker 27, Dash 8, now the Embraer 145. Though i don't necessarily work flights to exotic places, I have unlimited travel Benefits on American. It is nice being #1.
It warms my heart to see Carol recognized in a public forum for her service. She exemplifies what we all hope for in a flight attendant on our flights. I worked for Air Wisconsin for many years, so I can attest that she is always professional, flexible, giving, and kind. Congratulations and thanks to Carol for always going the extra mile.
I was on a flight where this woman was our Flight Attendant in October. It was SDF-ORD. I remember her because she never stopped moving. In that short flight, she did a snack service, then a drink service, then another walk through with snacks. Several trash walkthroughs. She walked through and chatted with several passengers who appeared to be 'regulars'.
Then she cleaned the galley. Then she cleaned the coffee machines. Then another pass through...
I was on a flight where this woman was our Flight Attendant in October. It was SDF-ORD. I remember her because she never stopped moving. In that short flight, she did a snack service, then a drink service, then another walk through with snacks. Several trash walkthroughs. She walked through and chatted with several passengers who appeared to be 'regulars'.
Then she cleaned the galley. Then she cleaned the coffee machines. Then another pass through the cabin. From the minute she could get up after take-off to the minute she had to sit for landing, this woman never stopped doing stuff. Some of it seemed almost like busy work, but she was such a pleasant professional, you couldn't help but admire it.
Congratulations on a well earned retirement!