Fact check: Image shows Britney Spears, not first female flight attendant

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: A photo shows the first female flight attendant in 1914

A social media post with a sepia-toned image claims to show the first female flight attendant on the first U.S. commercial flight more than a century ago.

“My great-grandma in 1914,” reads text in the image, which was posted to Facebook on April 9. “She was the first female flight attendant for the United States’ first scheduled commercial airline flight on 1 January 1914.”

The post, versions of which also circulated in 2021, was shared by more than 1,800 users in just over a week.

But the image doesn't show the first female flight attendant – it’s a photo of Britney Spears from the set of a music video released in 2004.

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USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the image for comment.

Image from Spears music video

The image in the post was taken from the set of Spears' "Toxic" music video, which includes a scene with Spears in a blue flight attendant uniform with metallic piping.

A sepia filter, along with other modifications, was added to the color image of Spears to make it appear older.

Lead Stories debunked a version of the claim in April 2021.

Britney Spears arrives at the 29th annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2018.
Britney Spears arrives at the 29th annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2018.

First female flight attendant flew in 1930

The world’s first scheduled passenger airline service did happen Jan. 1, 1914, according to Space.com. The flight, on the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, took off from St. Petersburg, Florida, and landed in Tampa, Florida, 23 minutes later.

But there wasn’t a female flight attendant on board.

That didn’t happen until 1930, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ellen Church made history May 15 of that year by working on a 20-hour, 13-stop Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California, to Chicago.

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Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a photo shows the first female flight attendant in 1914. The photo shows Spears on the set of a music video, and the first scheduled U.S. commercial flight did not include a female flight attendant.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Image shows Britney Spears, not 1914 stewardess