Flight Attendants' History
FAMRI’s Board of Trustees is comprised of a majority of flight attendants who participated in the class action. The following are the Trustees’ stories as they struggled with second hand tobacco smoke in airline cabins:
Patty Young
I became a stewardess—as we were called then—in the summer of 1966. Around 1969 I began my huge, multi-layered fight to have smoking banned on all airline flights. In the beginning of my career I remember being told over and over three things by the other “stews”:
- “Patty, you are going to meet the most handsome, interesting, entertaining men.”
- “Patty, you will travel to exciting, beautiful, wonderful places.”
- “Patty, ‘I was told by my doctor that I have the lungs of a smoker-and I have never smoked’.”
This intrigued me. After asking my own doctors and others I encountered how someone could have the disease of a smoker, never having smoked, they had no answers for me. We know now what can happen to people who are forced to breathe second hand tobacco smoke—they suffer and die from the same diseases as smokers. I truly believe that the Flight Attendants in the United States were a major power in forcing the no-smoking issue into the world’s view. We were and are the canaries in the coal mines. Now with this wonderful Foundation we can attack the issue of these diseases and how they affect non-smoking Flight Attendants head on. We are going to make major contributions to and impact on the people of the world because of the medical and scientific research FAMRI is and will be funding to combat these diseases.
Lani Blissard
I have been flying with American Airlines since 1967 when smokers had their rights and this was never questioned. No thought was given to the non-smoker. At the end of the day, the hair of a platinum blonde stewardess (as we were called) would be yellowish brown from the effects of cigarette smoke in the cabin. I worked to improve these terrible conditions, first using safety as an approach, since damage from second hand tobacco smoke had not been established yet. Later, I put together a survey about the health issue of smoke in airline cabins with a Miami pulmonologist, Dr. Charles Tate. The response generated from this was greater than the union had ever received from any survey. Second hand tobacco smoke on aircraft was without question an enormous problem. However, this fact didn’t translate into elimination of the problem. Big tobacco had huge cash reserves to thwart our efforts. But—we battled on, and I became further involved fighting for non-smokers’ rights and our class action suit. When the Foundation was formed, I accepted a position on the Board so I could continue to work for Flight Attendants who are suffering from diseases caused by second hand tobacco smoke.
Bland Lane
(deceased February 15, 2007)
Even though I never intended to make a living as a Flight Attendant, I have been one for my whole adult life, and I wouldn’t change a minute of it. No other line of work would have provided the exposures I have had from travel to exotic places, interesting food, and the treasures I gathered during those travels. I began my flying career with Pan American World Airways based in New York flying to South America. After a year, I transferred to San Francisco and flew the Pacific routes, with some trips lasting as long as 28 days, and flew for that airline for 34 years. Following the demise of Pan Am, I was one of the 1202 Flight Attendants and 400 pilots Pan Am sold to United Airlines, along with its Pacific routes. I flew for United for 14 years until retirement. In addition to the above-described exposures, I was also exposed to second hand tobacco smoke during the flights, and on transoceanic flights this could be as long as 16 hours. As a non-smoker, I learned survival skills to cope with this hazard and devised ways to clear the air. For example, using my position on the crew as Purser, I would go up to the cockpit and request to have the no smoking signs turned on for fifteen to thirty minutes or I’d ask the pilots if the cabin pressure could be raised 1,000-2,000 feet. I would also take a few minutes to suck on oxygen in the cockpit to help clear my lungs. During the years when airlines handed out free cigarettes, I would “forget” to do so, and take them out of the liquor kits only when asked. When my flights ended, I personally reeked of tobacco smoke—in my hair, permeating my uniforms and even the clothes in my suitcases, which were stowed in the baggage compartment.
When I learned about the class-action lawsuit instigated by non-smoking Flight Attendants, I became involved with it because as a non-smoker, I have been diagnosed with a smoker’s disease. The year after I retired from United, I was invited to join the Board of Trustees to help give shape to the Foundation’s mission and purpose. It has been a rewarding experience.
Leisa Sudderth
I started flying for American Airlines in 1985, and no one could have been more proud to put on that uniform. As the most junior attendant, or “new hire” as we were called, I would be assigned to flights and sections on the airplane that the more senior attendants didn’t want. At that time, smoking sections existed in the aircraft, and, yep, you guessed it, I got that section. The smoke was so thick you couldn’t see your hand. I told a co-worker that I felt violated in the work place, as the cabins were full of smoke all the time. She introduced me to Patty Young and told me she was very passionate about this issue. I contacted Patty who got me involved and made me an activist about getting smoke off airplanes. When a vacancy occurred on the Board of Trustees, I was asked to fill that spot. I am as proud of this role and the work of FAMRI as I am of wearing my uniform.
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