Dates

• Existence: 1943 March 9 -

Biographical Note: Jeanne M. Elliott

Jeanne M. (Korelz) Elliott had a 50-year career as a flight attendant who also worked closely with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specializing in aircraft cabin safety and accident prevention.

Jeanne Marie (Korelz) Elliott was born in Virginia, Minnesota on March 9, 1943 to John and Johanna Korelz. When she was six years old her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona to help treat her mother’s rheumatoid arthritis. She attended school through high school in Phoenix. As a child she enjoyed watching planes at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport which inspired her interest in aviation. She began college at Arizona State University where she studied business administration but took a break from her studies to apply for a position as a stewardess (flight attendant) with Air West in 1968. She continued with the company for many years, and though she never changed carriers, the company underwent many mergers so over time she worked for Hughes Airwest, Republic, Northwest Orient and Delta Airlines, from which she retired. Her favorite aircraft with the Airbus 330 and Boeing 747. While working with Northwest and Delta she was usually in the role of purser, a leadership position responsible for the cabin crew, flight attendants, and everything associated with cabin service and safety.

Elliott was also an active member of the Association of Flight Attendants. As part of the union, she represented flight attendants in the areas of aircraft cabin safety, accident prevention, aviation security, crew training and emergency response, incident and accident investigation, and regulatory reform. She was a major contributor to the establishment of a joint Critical Incident Stress Management program at Northwest Airlines. In the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, she championed flight attendant concerns surrounding security and personal protection issues and was instrumental in bringing cabin defense training to over 10,000 cabin crewmembers. Elliott was also instrumental in bringing voluntary safety reporting by means of the FAA's Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) to the 20,000 flight attendants of Delta Air Lines, allowing for a non-punitive process to report safety concerns and needed improvements.

In addition to her work on safety, Elliott also worked as a cabin crew advisor for interior design projects. She served as a crew representative when Northwest was designing interiors for the Airbus 330 as well as the Boeing 787, though Northwest ultimately cancelled their order for the 787s due to their merger with Delta.

Elliott received the "Safety Activist Achievement Award" presented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), honoring her significant contributions to the field of aviation safety and advancing safety for flight attendants specifically and the traveling public in general. Previously she had been the recipient of the prestigious "Annual Air Safety Award.”

Elliott retired from her role as flight attendant in 2015, though she continued working for RTI Forensics in an advisory capacity as a cabin safety consultant. Elliott married her husband in 1983. As of 2020 she was living in the Bellevue, Washington area.

Biographical note derived from oral history interview and records on Ancestry.com.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: