An image circulating on social media purports to be an authentic list of requirements for being a flight attendant in the 1950s.
The image has been posted online since at least 2014, most recently in a popular Reddit thread, as well as in posts on LinkedIn (archived) and X (archived). Most instances claim the image is from 1954, though a 2014 Reddit post claimed 1945.
The alleged list is titled "Chicago and Southern Air Lines Qualifications for Stewardess." Chicago and Southern was an airline that operated until 1953, when it merged with Delta.
Qualifications needed to be a stewardess in 1954 pic.twitter.com/3H0wjdeEQw
— Time Capsule Tales (@timecaptales) February 11, 2025
The alleged qualifications read:
1. Single — Not engaged.
2. Between the ages of 22 and 28.
3. Between 5'2" and 5'5".
4. Between 100 and 120 pounds.
5. Good eyesight (No glasses).
6. Good teeth (Even no gold showing when smiling).
7. Good figure.
8. Slender legs.
9. Natural color to hair.
10. At least four years of college or two years of college and two years business experience.
11. The ability to carry on a lively conversation.
12. Good carriage.
13. Even temper — must not become provoked by demands of passengers.
14. Willing and anxious to please.
15. Willing to transfer.
16. Citizen of the United States.
17. Excellent health.
18. Clear skin.
19. Nice hands.
Snopes could not locate the source of the image found in these claims.
However, based on other available evidence and statements given by experts, the qualifications outlined in the viral image are in line with the problematic standards of the era, which included strict physical guidelines and mandatory resignation for women at age 32.
Though its content accurately reflects the culture of the industry at the time, the origins of the specific image are unknown. For these reasons, we've opted not to give this claim a truth rating.
Nell McShane Wulfhart, author of the 2023 book "The Great Stewardess Rebellion: How Women Launched a Workplace Revolution at 30,000 Feet," which details the labor battles flight attendants faced in the 1960s and 70s, told Snopes via email, "I'm afraid I can't verify the veracity of the image or the source, but it certainly fits in with the other information I dug up in my research for the book."
For example, McShane Wulfhart writes:
The 1963 American Airlines supervisor handbook would emphasize that when it came to hiring, "the first fundamental is appearance. A stewardess must be attractive. We can sometimes pretend a person is attractive, if we admire them for some other reason. This should be avoided." The beauty of stewardesses was so well known that an American Airlines Barbie debuted in 1961. She had bright red lips, high heels, a flight bag with the AA insignia, and a neat blue hat perched atop her voluminous hair. (Captain Ken wouldn't show up until 1964.)...
Delta, based in the South and priding itself on its conservative nature, hired for "high moral character"; its recruiters were known to prefer a demure, wholesome smiler to a bombshell. Delta's ads boasted about its stewardesses' "superior background," and claimed that "we can't give her that gracious air, that friendly spirit. They come of home and heritage." Delta's evocation of old southern traditions was code for white and Christian; the homes and heritage it was scrutinizing in its search for candidates were pretty uniform.
Kathleen Berry, author of 2007's "Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants," told Snopes via email, "I don't have any experience with this particular image. Its content is certainly plausible since what's listed were pretty standard requirements from the postwar WWII era."
Berry's introduction to "Femininity in Flight" reads in part:
Though stewardesses enjoyed an iconic status all their own, they had much in common with other women who toiled in the feminized realms of clerical and service work and received little recognition of their skills and labor. From ''office wives'' (secretaries) fetching coffee for the boss to waitresses obliging male customers with playful performances as scolds or vamps, female wage-earners in many clerical and service fields have been expected not only to perform gender on the job but to perform gender as the job. The appearance requirements, early retirement, sexual harassment, and patronizing attitudes from male labor leaders that flight attendants faced have many parallels in the history of nurses, telephone operators, shop clerks, domestics, teachers, waitresses, and secretaries, among others.
A later chapter describes the rigor with which flight attendants' appearances were judged at the time, including a 1954 photograph of Delta workers looking into a mirror with the words "How is your appearance today?" hanging above it.
("Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants")
Berry writes:
Upon graduating, stewardesses continued to labor on the job and on their own time to remain flawlessly attractive. Stewardesses had little choice but to do so, for supervisors routinely checked their weight, uniforms, and grooming. As a former hostess for Continental Airlines explained, ''While on duty, we were required to wear a girdle, carry extra nylons (pre-panty hose!) and carry an extra pair of white gloves . . . Our total appearance was observed at all times by our supervisors. Any hostess who did not meet standards could be sent home without pay.''
The claim that the image depicts an authentic document from Chicago and Southern Airlines could not be verified. However, whether or not it is an authentic document, the content accurately reflects the era.
Delta and the Delta Flight Museum were contacted for verification, and this article will be updated if a response is received.