It's easy for me to advise other people about travel because it's something I like to do. I specifically chose to be a travel agent because working with the airlines had become difficult. You had to wait a long time to gain seniority and to have a comfortable work schedule with Saturdays and Sundays off. Plus, with so many airlines going out of business, there are a lot of unemployed people in the industry. The airline I worked for folded ten years ago and I was happy to switch. I was looking for a job that would still be in the travel industry but that would be more secure and with normal hours.
When I went to college I studied air carrier management and received a bachelor's degree in transportation management. My experience with the airlines and then with the cruise line also was important in preparing me. The rest I picked up through on-the-job training.
What the Jobs Really Like
I work Monday through Friday and because our agency is open from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., I get to choose my hours during the day. Most people prefer to work earlier hours, but I don't. I work from 10:30 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.
Basically, what I do is this: people call me who have an interest in taking a cruise vacation and I find them the right cruise at the right price. I think of it more as a matching game rather than a selling situation. My office doesn't call anyone asking them to buy a cruise; everyone calls us.
I enjoy traveling and it's nice to be able to talk about it all day long and to help people find the right travel experience. There's a great deal of satisfaction when someone calls me back and tells me that the cruise was exactly as I had described it and that it was the best vacation of his or her life.
You also get to travel yourself, to sample all the cruises and be more informed about them. I've been to St. Thomas, San Juan, Nassau, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Martin, to name just a few places.
We also get to attend many luncheons, dinners, and other inaugural activities to view the new ships.
It's an office with a very high call volume. And there is always a lot of new information to learn, a lot of intensive studying you have to do to acquire all the product knowledge about all the different cruise lines and packages.
Expert Advice
I think it's important to go to college and to get as much training as you can, and then to apply to work for an agency where you can get experience. Even if you get experience without going to school, it's very competitive. Sometimes the person with the most education will get the job over someone with equal experience.
INTERVIEW
Mary Fallon Miller
Travel Agent
Mary Fallon Miller started her career as a travel agent in 1986 when she opened her own agency. In partnership with a relative, she first focused on bus tours, transporting groups to see special events in her area. She later moved on to specialize in cruise travel.
How Mary Fallon Miller Got Started
At the age of seven I sailed across the Atlantic on the S.S. France, and then, later, as a young woman, I accompanied my mother throughout Europe and South America. I fell in love with the glamour and excitement of travel. It gets in your blood; I have a real fascination for other cultures and languages. I realized that a career as a travel agent would allow me to pursue my dream to see more of the world.
What the Job's Really Like
When you're just starting out, you're tied to the office and the computer a lot, but a newcomer would get to take at least one week a year, more once you've gained some seniority. The owners of a travel agency get to go on more 'FAM' trips, but if someone just starting out is seen as a productive member of the business, helping to build it, he or she would get more opportunities. You'll be the one they send on the 'Cruise-a-Thon' or to the ski shows, and then you'll become your agency's representative.
Beginners would probably start working side-by-side with someone more experienced in the agency. They might be placed in a specific department handling, for example, European travel, or cruises, or car rental and air fares. Much of their time will be spent coordinating and arranging details.
It can be tricky keeping all the details accurate and being able to deal with what we call 'grumps and whiners'. These are the people who get very nervous about their travel arrangements and complain all the time. They can make your life miserable. But you have to be able to be compassionate-find out why they're so concerned. Maybe they had a bad experience in the past. You have to try to know as much about your client as possible.
And there are times when things go wrong. There could be a snow-in at an airport and people miss their connections or someone in the family dies and they have to cancel their whole cruise reservation at the last minute. You have to be professional and flexible and you have to be on the ball all the time.
It's a demanding job, but ifs satisfying. People come back and say, 'I can't believe you knew exactly what I wanted. That's the best vacation I've ever had. And I'm telling all my friends.' You start getting more and more customers coming in and they ask for you by name. That feels really good. You're making a dream come true, and in a way, that's what you're doing selling dreams."
Expert Advice
Read Time, Newsweek, and your local newspaper and try to stay in touch with the world. Listen to National Public Radio or watch the travel channel on television.
Don't be afraid of learning the computer, studying languages, and participating in a language club or taking advantage of a foreign exchange program. I once lived in Poland for a summer.
Most important, learn communication skills. And, at the beginning, when you're doing some of the drudgery work, it helps to remember that down the road you will receive dis-counts and free travel-you have something you are working toward. The hard work will pay off.
