Interviewed on October 28, November 7, 2022, and February 23, 2023
The interview describes the life and career of Al Mueller, who was a travel agent from 1961 to 2006 and a ticket and gate agent with Continental Air Lines from 1967 to 1968; early experiences traveling on aircraft in the 1950s, including a flight on a PSA [Pacific Southwest Airlines] Douglas DC-4 and a Continental Boeing 707 Golden Jet; decision to work for Continental and his work as a ticket and gate agent at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX); ticketing, pricing, seating, and payment processes by airlines prior to computers, as well as his work as a gate agent; interactions with his colleague Inga Mustad and with Robert Six, president of Continental Airlines; reasons for leaving the airline to return to working as a travel agent; interest in airline flight from an early age with anecdotes; role of travel agents in the 1950s and 1960s as well as the network of agents, airline personnel, and tour operators; work at Lee Hanson Travel Service and Diners Fugazy Travel; differences between arranging personal and business travel; process of booking airline flights from a travel agency’s perspective; decision to open his own travel agency, Safari Travel; highlights and challenges of owning a business; reasons for selling the business and joining AAA Travel in 1981; work with AAA, the changes he experienced in the business up to his retirement in 2006, and the differences between working for AAA and an independent agency; revolutions he experienced in travel booking between the 1960s and the 2000s, including the changes from handwritten tickets to different versions of computerized ticketing, to customer online booking, and the impact of those changes on the travel business; love of travel and several tours and trips he experienced, including a flight on the Concorde from London to Washington, D.C.; discrimination he experienced as a gay man and how the culture changed over time; effect of the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 on his work, as well as the effects of labor actions and strikes, and the impact of airline deregulation on the travel industry.
Comments and Suggestions click to expand