First Flight Attendant

The German Heinrich Kubis was the world's first flight attendant, in 1912. Kubis first attended to the passengers on board the DELAG Zeppelin LZ 10 Schwaben.He also attended to the famous LZ 129 Hindenburg and was on board when it burst into flames. He survived by jumping out a window when it neared the ground.

Heinrich Kubis (back row, fourth from right), pictured with other survivors of the Hindenburg

Kubis trained as a waiter and worked in several luxury hotels in Europe, including the Hôtel Ritz Paris and the Carlton Hotel, London.

In March 1912 Kubis began attending to passengers on the LZ 10 Schwaben during flights from Berlin to Friedrichshafen. He thereby preceded the debut of the first female flight attendant, Ellen Church, by eighteen years. He survived the destruction of the Schwaben near Düsseldorf on 28 June 1912.

Kubis was on the Hindenburg at the time of its destruction in New Jersey in 1937. On the Hindenburg Kubis was not only a flight attendant but the manager of the entire waitstaff, overseeing fifteen cooks and waiters. He was responsible for confiscating cigarette lighters and matches from passengers as they boarded the aircraft, stating, "We Germans don't fool around with hydrogen. Kubis had nearly missed the voyage due to illness but recovered in time to make the flight on 3 May. Kubis was in the dining room at the moment of the explosion and helped passengers to jump to safety. He himself escaped the disaster without injury.

He died in 1979.