The Milošević government’s response to her activism was economically targeted. JAT — the airline she had worked for since before the crash — ended her employment around 1990 or 1991. The accounts she gave described a process of demotion and salary reduction that preceded the formal termination, and the result was that she was forced into early retirement with a pension that she later described as barely adequate — approximately 300 euros per month in her final years. The government, she said, had chosen economic punishment over arrest partly because arresting her would have generated negative international publicity.
Pro-Milošević tabloid newspapers ran a campaign against her — the kind of smear operation that the Milošević-aligned press conducted against opposition figures, attempting to damage their reputation and reduce their public standing. The campaign against Vulović was noted by journalists covering Serbian political life in the 1990s but did not succeed in fundamentally altering how she was regarded by the Serbian public.
When the Milošević government fell following the elections of September 2000 and the mass protests of October 5 that year — the Bulldozer Revolution, as it became known — Vulović was part of the celebration. She addressed crowds from the balcony of Belgrade’s city hall.
She continued her political engagement after the fall of Milošević. In 2008, she was actively campaigning for liberal forces ahead of Serbian parliamentary elections, supporting the coalition that favored Serbia’s path toward European Union membership. She said, in an interview from that period: “I thought I was done with politics, but the choice now is too stark.” And: “I don’t assume I will make a huge difference, but every little bit will help.”