Career Change - Travel

MrsBunny

Hi there
I work in business travel now but started out as a checkin agent at the airport. If you live near an airport I would recommend doing a summer season on checkin as a foot into the travel world. Here you will gain experience with the different checkin/boarding computer systems and gain abit of world wide knowledge by learning about the destinations and passengers that go to those places (before I started I had no idea where doha, muscatt, bahrain, islamabad, narita etc were!) fast forward 4 years and made up to supervisor with another airline and fast forward another 4 years i left the airport for good to go travelling.

The shifts are really hard work -getting up for a 3am start on a saturday morning is not fun and after 8/9years it really took its toll on me. I went travelling around south east asia, australia, new zealand and america - had a ball, though I do understand this is not always possible to do, I would advise some travel outside of europe would be benifcal(most interviews i have had have asked about personal travel)

Came home from travelling and after a small stint in some temp work I found a job in hotel operations - cross checkin hotel bookings and room allocation, not the job for me I left to work at BA groups. Again no experience in group sales but they took me on due to my airport and personal travel expiernce. Had a laugh at BA groups but money was not good, major paycut from the airport. group sales gave me enough experience, esp with the GDS Amadeus (which I also used at the airport) to get the job I am in now - business travel.

Business travel is better paid than retail travel though a GDS is preferred there are companies out there that will train you (GDS - Amadeus, Gallieo and Sabre) if you have all the other skills ie customer service, friendly phone manor, able to do some maths etc! and of course business travel is mainly mon-fri 9-5. (which is much better than 3am starts from my airport days!)

I would tailor your cv towards customer service skills, and computer skills - word, excell email etc phone manor and good at maths (for marking up bookings, adding booking fees and credit card fees etc)

I hope you manage to find your job of your dreams, there is a website that you can do some training on.....will have to have a mooch around to find it for you which might be a good place to start.

Any other questions, just ask and I will try and answer! Mrs B

MrsBunny

website i was on about is online travel training dot co dot uk

paddyrg

What kind of travel do you enjoy? Independent travel to Nepal or package tours to Ibiza? How much experience of travel do you have? A one-week deal every 2 years, or occasional multi-month trips? There are travel agents specialising in all kinds of travel, so pick the right one, and show them how much extra you bring to the role because of your travel experience.

Dunroamin

threemuttleys wrote: »

I would prefer to work in the stores (sales agents) but would be willing to start at the bottom and work my way up. Just not sure the best way in
!

Have you researched how poorly paid the industry is?

I used to be a lecturer in Travel and Tourism and one of the courses I taught was an evening COTAC course (now defunct ) which many non experienced people took with a view to getting them into the industry. When these students came into contact with the industry people who also did the course they were absolutely stunned to hear what money they were on. One Boots sales assistant found that she was on virtually the same money as another woman who managed a local travel agency!

threemuttleys

ohreally wrote: »

If you can "embrace the naturist and alternative lifestyle" , I can pm you a company with many vacancies in differing locations, mainly France, Spain and Croatia.

thank you that would be ace!

threemuttleys

Dunroamin wrote: »

Have you researched how poorly paid the industry is?

I used to be a lecturer in Travel and Tourism and one of the courses I taught was an evening COTAC course (now defunct ) which many non experienced people took with a view to getting them into the industry. When these students came into contact with the industry people who also did the course they were absolutely stunned to hear what money they were on. One Boots sales assistant found that she was on virtually the same money as another woman who managed a local travel agency!

I dont mind TBH. Lets face it, I earn the same as a Coffee Barista as a Carer does at the local Home. Its about career more than money (if that makes sense!)

threemuttleys

paddyrg wrote: »

What kind of travel do you enjoy? Independent travel to Nepal or package tours to Ibiza? How much experience of travel do you have? A one-week deal every 2 years, or occasional multi-month trips? There are travel agents specialising in all kinds of travel, so pick the right one, and show them how much extra you bring to the role because of your travel experience.

For me, its beach holidays, family holidays and the like. Both UK and abroad. I do need to do more travel to bump my CV...but with everything its about money to do it :o

threemuttleys

MrsBunny wrote: »

website i was on about is online travel training dot co dot uk

Thank you. Will check that out now

threemuttleys

MrsBunny wrote: »

Hi there
I work in business travel now but started out as a checkin agent at the airport. If you live near an airport I would recommend doing a summer season on checkin as a foot into the travel world. Here you will gain experience with the different checkin/boarding computer systems and gain abit of world wide knowledge by learning about the destinations and passengers that go to those places (before I started I had no idea where doha, muscatt, bahrain, islamabad, narita etc were!) fast forward 4 years and made up to supervisor with another airline and fast forward another 4 years i left the airport for good to go travelling.

The shifts are really hard work -getting up for a 3am start on a saturday morning is not fun and after 8/9years it really took its toll on me. I went travelling around south east asia, australia, new zealand and america - had a ball, though I do understand this is not always possible to do, I would advise some travel outside of europe would be benifcal(most interviews i have had have asked about personal travel)

Came home from travelling and after a small stint in some temp work I found a job in hotel operations - cross checkin hotel bookings and room allocation, not the job for me I left to work at BA groups. Again no experience in group sales but they took me on due to my airport and personal travel expiernce. Had a laugh at BA groups but money was not good, major paycut from the airport. group sales gave me enough experience, esp with the GDS Amadeus (which I also used at the airport) to get the job I am in now - business travel.

Business travel is better paid than retail travel though a GDS is preferred there are companies out there that will train you (GDS - Amadeus, Gallieo and Sabre) if you have all the other skills ie customer service, friendly phone manor, able to do some maths etc! and of course business travel is mainly mon-fri 9-5. (which is much better than 3am starts from my airport days!)

I would tailor your cv towards customer service skills, and computer skills - word, excell email etc phone manor and good at maths (for marking up bookings, adding booking fees and credit card fees etc)

I hope you manage to find your job of your dreams, there is a website that you can do some training on.....will have to have a mooch around to find it for you which might be a good place to start.

Any other questions, just ask and I will try and answer! Mrs B

Wow.

Thank you so much for this. I am not close to a major airport (tho Manston is about an hour away) but wondering if a stint at Dover Ferry port would be worth while?

Thank you again. Will save it, and use it as research reference

saintjammyswine

Contact your local FE College as many offer Travel & Tourism related courses including Galilleo (sp?). We even have part of a fuselage for cabin crew training!