A Local Sky
Traveler Turns in
Her Wings after
40 Years, and
Millions of Miles
“Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” Anyone that has ever seen the 1950s TV series Superman can recall these exciting opening words—but they could just as easily apply to Lake Havasu’s own superwoman, Chris Hall. A long-time resident, Chris has recently turned in her wings after an amazing 40 years as a flight attendant flying the friendly skies. “It’s hard to believe that it was 1972 when I graduated from Airline School for Air West in San Mateo, California.” It may be safe to say that for flight attendants, time really does fly by.
A bit more grounded in her career as the owner of JonAli’s Quilt ‘n Sew, Chris recalls the glamour days of flying, “Before airline deregulation in 1978, flying had a different flavor to it. People looked at flying as an adventure, they actually got dressed up to fly—it was a special occasion.” Deregulation by the United States government allowed airlines to set the fees they charged for airfare on their various routes. Chris, who started her flight attendant career with the now defunct airline Hughes AirWest (yes, as in Howard Hughes), recalls the years before deregulation when the government set airfares, “It didn’t matter what airline you flew on, a seat on a flight from say, New York to Los Angeles, would cost you exactly the same. That’s where it got a little crazy, but also fun; in order to lure passengers, airlines would give free amenities, things like pillows, blankets, drinks, there was a time we even served lobster tail—at no additional cost—even to coach passengers.” Deregulation changed all that, airlines where free to charge whatever they wanted for airfares, sometimes that created price wars and great fees, other times, not so great.
Shortly after launching her career, Chris moved from Minnesota to Lake Havasu in 1978—her parents had moved here in 1974. Being attached to a crew that was based in Phoenix and Las Vegas, “I spent a lot of hours on the road driving back and forth to Havasu.” Chris explained that in those days, the I-10 to Phoenix wasn’t completed yet, so it meant a long drive by today’s standards. “Iremember around the time I moved here Lake Havasu received its first fast food restaurant, Jack in the Box, and I thought, gee, Lake Havasu is really growing.” It was a year later, in 1979, when Southern Airlines, serving 50 cities and 17 states, merged with North Central Airlines. The merger created Republic Airlines and was headquartered in Minneapolis/St. Paul. But the acquisitions, thanks in part to deregulation, continued with Republic buying Hughes AirWest, an airline that served primarily the western and southwestern United States. At that time, Republic served over 200 cities in the U.S., more than any other carrier—opening new routes and new opportunities for Chris.
Working for all of the aforementioned airlines, two more mergers affected the routes Chris would fly—in 1986, Northwest Airlines purchased Republic Airlines, then, in 2008, Northwest and Delta Airlines merged, forming the world’s largest airline. Going with the flow, Chris retired from Delta in 2012. “One thing that no one thinks about is the training, various airlines have various configurations of aircraft—I had to be trained and qualified on all of them; DC-9s, MD-80s, the 747-777 series, a lot of training.” When one takes time to look out into the beautiful blue sky over Lake Havasu, we may not take much note of the contrails—the plumes left by jet travel as a result of hot jet exhaust mixing with cold temperature at high altitude—but for Chris, those contrails represent a trail left behind by a flight crew, pilots, flight attendants, and passengers, headed for an unknown destination. And why not, Chris has logged millions of miles in the air, all around our world. “When airlines merge, you end up with a variety of different routes and destinations.” Indeed, if you were to throw a dart at a destination on the map, you’d probably hit one that Chris has visited many times. In fact, not only has she flown numerous times to all the major cities in the United States, but all of the major cities around the world. “I worked out of Minneapolis for Northwest Orient, and as the name suggests, we flew all over the Orient.” Being a seasoned, world-class traveler, Chris enjoyed traveling to the more exotic locals, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong. Chris noted, “As a flight attendant with a lot of seniority, you end up with a little more layover time in major cities, which gives you time to explore. My favorite thing was going out to dinner with the other flight attendants and searching out the best restaurants that these cities had to offer.”
Flight in the early seventies was quite different than today and Chris remembers those early days in small, turboprop aircraft such as the Fokker F-27, “Pretty basic, no restrooms, only one flight attendant. No seat back food trays, or overhead storage bins—but we did have hat and coat racks. It was pretty basic flying, getting passengers from one place to another, but the service was outstanding.” The Fokker F-27 and Fairchild F-27 were built as replacements for the aging fleet of DC-3s, and had seating for 40 passengers.
Site 6 on the island also played a part in early aviation in Lake Havasu. Originally acquired by the Army Air Forces during World War II as an emergency back up field for Kingman’s Army Airfields Yucca Aerial Gunnery Range, the site, now a popular boat launch area, served the area well as the home to many commercial and charter flights. Chris also recalled the time when there were commercial flights available out on Site 6 on Havasu Airlines as well as States West. “I could take the flight from Site 6 to Phoenix and then hook up with the flight I was assigned to. In the early days we flew out of Terminal One at Sky Harbor—I’m not even sure the original Terminal One still exists.”
Through it all, Chris was able to raise two children—both girls—and both now adults. That, for Chris, presented its own set of problems. “I was one of the first flight attendants to fly pregnant. In fact, at the time, the airline had no policy one way or the other regarding flying pregnant.” Chris had to be creative, as the airlines had no maternity wear for flight attendants. Being creative, she made her own, cutting several flight uniforms and stitching them together to effectively create the first flight attendant maternity clothing.
“Most people look at being a flight attendant as a glamorous job, and don’t get me wrong, I loved every day of going to work, but some days, it wasn’t quite so glamorous—eating cold food out of vending machines, sleeping on mailbags on cold, concrete floors waiting for flights that were delayed—those days, not so glamorous. Of course, with all of those years spent in the air, your crew becomes your second family, your family away from home.”
Chris’ favorite aircraft is the 747, and why not, the 400 series could seat up to 568 passengers and yet was very roomy and spacious. “I particularly liked working the upper deck of the 747; fewer passengers that I could provide great customer service for.” I remember one flight when Prince was on board and he had reserved the entire upper deck of the aircraft—he was very selective about the crew members he would allow upstairs.”
Over her 40 years, Chris has met a lot of celebrities: John Wayne, Telly Savalas, Bob Newhart, Lucile Ball, Jerry Lewis, Steve and Edie Gorme, Liberace. The list goes on and on, but she particularly had fond memories of Bob Hope. “In the 70s and 80s I worked the flight between Burbank and Las Vegas, so we saw a lot of celebrities. I remember Bob would always read the paper before boarding the flight, but whenever he saw a serviceman in uniform, he would put down his paper and sign autographs for them—and that impressed me.” One of Chris’ more memorable stories was when working a flight to Vegas in a Fairchild F-27, which had stairs in the back of the plane to load passengers, “I heard laughter coming from the back of the plane–Bob Hope had pulled up in a golf cart, all dressed in polyester plaid, none of which matched–when he saw the plane, he blessed himself before he got on.”
One of Chris’ least favorite times was when passengers were allowed to smoke on the aircraft. “Passengers that wanted to smoke sat in the back of the plane, and on the larger flights with hundreds of passengers, we could tell when we were nearly done de-boarding because we could start to smell the cigarette smoke on the passengers.” Another one of those occupational hazard stories that Chris recalls was the time on a long flight that they encountered a long stretch of nasty turbulence, “Passengers were asked to buckle up and stay in their seats, unfortunately, one of the passengers, a woman, was in the back lavatory. By the time I made it back to her, the turbulence was so bad that we both had to crawl on our hands and knees the entire length of the aisle to get back to our seats.”
Chris will definitely miss the camaraderie developed over all the years of service, “The other attendants, flight crews, everyone was like my extended family, and that I will miss.” Rest assured, every time Chris catches a contrail streaming across the sky, fond memories of 40 years and millions of miles bring a smile to her face. Congratulations on your retirement Chris; please fasten your seatbelt and place your chair in the upright position… your life as a land dweller begins now!
–LIVING MAGAZINE