At 83, she’s ready to hang up her wings

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Hi Ledger readers, it’s Ashley. There’s plenty of news going on in and around Charlotte these days, but I’m always glad when we have the opportunity to tell a compelling story about someone’s life or accomplishments. Today’s lead story is a feature on American Airlines’ most senior flight attendant, who is retiring Monday after she deplanes the London-to-Charlotte flight. It’s significant that that’s her last route, but you’ll have to read Ledger contributor and longtime airlines reporter Ted Reed’s story to find out why.

by Ted Reed

After an astounding 63½ years on the job, Carol Fair’s final trip as a flight attendant on Monday will be fitting.

Fair, 83, will work an American Airlines London-to-Charlotte flight. She selected it because she worked the first Charlotte-to-London flight ever, operated by Piedmont Airlines, where she began her career.

That June 15, 1987, inaugural flight to London, Fair recalled in an interview on Monday, symbolized her career arc from small aircraft to large Boeing jets.

“I was so excited, I didn’t sleep the night before,” she said. “I went from a DC-3 to a 767. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.”

It’s been a long run for Fair, who will end her career as No. 1 on American’s seniority list out of about 30,000 flight attendants. (She is effectively the most senior, she said: Two women with higher seniority have not officially retired, but they no longer fly.)

A celebration is planned for her arrival at Charlotte’s airport at 4:40 p.m. on Monday, when Flight 733 arrives from London. The celebration is expected to include a water salute, an honor that is common in the airline industry, especially for veteran pilots’ final flights, but rare for flight attendants.

“It’s time,” Fine said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I made No. 1 out of 30,000. You can’t go any higher, so I might as well hang it up.”

Her honors include membership in both the North Carolina and Tennessee aviation halls of fame as well as a recent Sullenberger Aviation Museum exhibition that features her career.

According to her plaque in the Tennessee hall, “Fair became a flight attendant with Piedmont Airlines in 1963, soon after the airline began hiring female stewardesses. She is a dedicated advocate for flight attendant rights and a goodwill ambassador for the South’s beloved former ‘Route of the Pacemakers,’ Piedmont Airlines. Featured in magazines, newspapers and television interviews, Carol gives speeches about Piedmont’s marvelous history. She was also inducted into the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in 2008.”

Said Fair: “I’m notorious.”

Fair lives in Johnson City, Tenn., and flies out of Charlotte, where American has a flight attendant base.

In 1963, after graduating from high school in Johnson City, she went to the airport to look for work and met with the Piedmont station manager.

“I needed a job,” she recalled. “When the station manager said, ‘What could you do for me at Piedmont?’ I said I could answer the phone, empty trash, write tickets, make coffee and whatever. He said, ‘If you can make coffee, then go to Winston-Salem and get a job as a stewardess. There’s a flight going to Winston-Salem in a half hour. Get on it, and you can interview there.’ I said, ‘I’ve never flown.’ He said, ‘It’s a free trip. I think you’ll enjoy it.’”

Initially, Fair was based in Roanoke, Va. She flew on a twin-engine Martin 404. An out-and-back trip would take her to Norfolk, Va., with a half dozen stops each way. She moved to a Knoxville, Tenn., base and then to Atlanta because she wanted to fly on Boeing 737s.

In 1989, when Piedmont merged with USAir, the Atlanta flight attendant base closed, and she moved to the Charlotte base. She often drives three hours to and from her home for flights.

Before being hired at Piedmont, Fair noted, she was turned down at American. “They said I wasn’t American material,” she said. Funny how things change. 

Today, American Airlines operates three daily departures to London. Piedmont, founded in Winston-Salem and known for Southern gentility, began to connect a few flights in Charlotte in 1979 and opened a new Charlotte terminal in 1982. Thanks to Piedmont, the airport, now the 11th busiest in the U.S., enabled the growth of the city, now the 14th largest in the U.S.

Fair primarily flies international. She feels the quality of passengers is higher than on domestic flights: “They are vented better,” is the way she puts it. She usually flies with senior flight attendants, some longtime friends. Today, only a few dozen Piedmont flight attendants remain, she said. As for the pilots, she said, “I’ve been flying a lot longer than some of them have been alive, but if I need help, they back me up 100%.”

Commercial airline pilots must retire from flying at age 65. There is no mandatory retirement age for flight attendants.

In Johnson City, Fair lives in a 23-room mansion, a pleasure that is magnified because she grew up poor. In 1969, she married “a lovely man,” but he died of an illness in 1975. “We had a long time before we could get married because of the rules at Piedmont,” she said. (At the time, many airlines prohibited female flight attendants from marrying and imposed strict appearance standards.)

“We were about ready to start our family when he got sick and died,” she said. “There went my children.” She subsequently met Haitian piano player Felix Guignard, who was her life partner for 48 years. He died in 2025.

“Both of my boys left me well off,” she said. “I worked hard, and I invested, and yeah, I can retire. I hate to retire, but when you get to 83, it’s time to let the younger ones in.”

Since her days at Piedmont, Fair has been friends with Meba Thompson, who started at the carrier in 1969 and retired in 2002. They often flew together. Today, Fair often sleeps over at Thompson’s south Charlotte home rather than make the drive to Johnson City. Thompson has been among the organizers of Fair’s final flight celebration.

Thompson said her friend “bought a house that looks like Tara,” the plantation in “Gone with the Wind.” “It is filled with antiques from all over the world. It’s beautiful, but you have to like antiques.

“Carol put in her resignation a few times, and she kept pulling it back,” Thompson said. “She is very tearful about this. But she knows it’s time to go.”

Ted Reed covers the airport and airlines for The Ledger. He is a former Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer reporter. He is the co-author of “American Airlines, US Airways and the Creation of the World's Largest Airline.”

Mecklenburg County’s Park and Recreation Department doesn’t support taking over operations of Discovery Place’s new Charlotte Museum of Nature, saying at Monday’s park commission meeting that it could cost the department as much as $8M to $10M annually to run the facility. 

The discussion comes as Charlotte nonprofit Discovery Place faces an Oct. 27 deadline to repay Mecklenburg County $14.6M for the construction of the museum, which is next to Freedom Park on the old museum’s site. County commissioners are still weighing their options, including declaring Discovery Place in default of its agreement, which would allow the county to take over building operations.

Leaders of the effort to keep the Morrison YMCA in Ballantyne open say they will file a lawsuit in the next two weeks seeking to block the sale that draws on a little-known provision of N.C. law.

This story is from The Election Hub, a free, non-partisan resource that empowers voters with unbiased information about statewide and local races in North Carolina.

The first full week of early voting is underway in North Carolina, and so far, data show that Democrats and unaffiliated voters are turning out in much higher numbers than Republicans.

While many political junkies are predicting a blue wave in November, the reality is a bit more complicated — and Election Day could still bring some surprises.

There were 17,700 votes cast on the first day of early voting in Mecklenburg County on Oct. 15 — a 61% increase from the first day of early voting in the last midterm in 2022. As of Oct. 19, the total number of early ballots cast was 71,885. 

But a more astute comparison is the 2018 midterm, during President Donald Trump’s first term, UNC Charlotte political science professor Eric Heberlig told The Election Hub. On the first day of early voting for that election, Mecklenburg County voters cast 11,088 ballots — putting Thursday’s turnout at a nearly 46% increase. 

Population growth contributes to the massive difference, Heberlig said, but the increase also reflects voter enthusiasm — or anger. And this year, Democrats, along with some independents and other voters, are eager to head to the polls. —Rachel Black

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22: “Rock House Ghost Tours,” 7-10 p.m., at Charlotte Museum of History, 3500 Shamrock Dr. For one night only, #SpookyCLT and Charlotte Museum of History are teaming up to lead you through the Museum grounds after dark! The path will be dim, the night will be quiet and the door of Charlotte’s oldest home will be waiting to creak open for you. Each tour will last approximately 45 minutes. Guests must be 11 years old or older to join a tour. $15 for Museum Members. $30 General Admission. 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25: “Party in the Park: Celebrating 90 Years of The Mint Museum,” 1-5 p.m., at Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Rd. Celebrate the Mint’s 90th anniversary and the opening of “Brilliant by Design: The Handbags of Judith Leiber,” with an afternoon of art, music and hands-on activities. Enjoy live music on the terrace and food trucks, design a custom charm for your backpack or bag and watch demonstrations by local leatherwork artists. Free. 

OCTOBER 27: “Navigating Change, Empowering Progress: A Roadmap for Leaders Committed to Community and Democracy,” 7-8:15 p.m., at Queens University of Charlotte, 1900 Selwyn Ave. In an era of unprecedented global challenges and technological change, the foundation of progress remains human. Drawing from his transformational decade as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau shares compelling insights on how leaders can foster resilient, inclusive communities that can thrive in times of opportunity and crisis.

➡️ List your event on the Ledger events board.