Happy 80th Birthday, AFA
August 29, 2025 — 80 years ago, our union was founded by eight women at United Airlines!
On August 22, 1945 a small group of what were then known as stewardesses formed the Air Line Stewardess Association (ALSSA) — the first union for Flight Attendants. Today, as the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, we've grown to 55,000 Flight Attendants at 20 airlines.
For 80 years Flight Attendants have joined together in AFA to fight for fair compensation, job security, and improved quality of life through organizing, bargaining, and political action. We turned our job into a career where anyone with the heart of a Flight Attendant can be a Flight Attendant. And we continue to fight forward together to make airline management across the industry recognize our worth as aviation’s first responders.
Stay tuned for special recognitions and celebrations of our history throughout our 80th birthday year.
