Interviewed on February 19, 2020
The interview describes Joan Arthur’s career as a ticketing agent for Northwest Airlines, as a flight attendant and senior flight attendant for Flying Tiger Line, and in the sales department for FedEx; her education as a reservation / ticketing agent at Weaver Airline School in Kansas City, Missouri; transfer to New York City; her work as a ticketing / reservation agent for Northwest Airlines, and benefits; decision to work for Flying Tigers, her interview with the airline, and the hiring process; training process; first flight from Travis Air Force Base to Cam Rahn Bay and Bien Hoa Air Bases in Vietnam via Anchorage and Yokota Air Base in Japan; working on MAC (Military Airlift Command) flights during the Vietnam War (1967-1975), the procedures that the United States military required, and the people she encountered; evolution of her thoughts about the war over time; Douglas DC Stretch 8, Boeing 707, Boeing 747; potential landing incident on the 747; flights with refugee families from Southeast Asia, and her reactions to their situation; other military charter flights; other charters during the 1970s and 1980s, including flights into Teheran, Iran in the mid-1970s; military charters during the Persian Gulf War / Desert Storm era and the contrast between those flights and the Vietnam-era flights; the uniforms she wore; anecdotes from her work; flight benefits she received; transition after Flying Tigers was purchased by FedEx; speculates on the reasons for the closure of the passenger division after three years; hiring process and work for FedEx’s sales department; life after retirement; thoughts on the airline industry over time.
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