Back in the late '90s, while I was still a third-year foreign trade student at the university, we were taking our first steps in the airline ticket reservation and sales business. Our journey began with an agent contract with Balkan, the national carrier, and we needed a solid 12 months of experience to apply for authorization from IATA. At that time, we could only issue Balkan tickets, and most of our sales were for flights to Heathrow, thanks to our office’s proximity to the UK consular section on Levski Blvd.
One day, an attorney, whom I had never met before, came in with several requests. Among them, he asked me to arrange two return tickets to Thailand for a well-known businessman from Bourgas and his female partner—both of whom are even more prominent today and currently married to other people. I booked and issued my first long-haul business class tickets (~2x DM5500) on Lufthansa, using Balkan ticket stock. This experience boosted my confidence significantly, and I knew I would keep my half-day student job for a while longer.