Flight Centre Travel Group’s Flight Centre Collection has welcomed award-winning Senior Consultant James Rakus as a new recruit with the two-time Global Leisure Consultant of the Year joining the specialist pillar in the Luxury Travel space.
Rakus, who is also a newly minted Brand USA Ambassador, brings more than 15 years’ retail leisure travel agent experience at Flight Centre to the role.
As FCTG’s top-selling leisure consultant globally in 2024 and 2025, he also has an enviable 100 per cent repeat referral clientele.
He started his travel career as a novice at Flight Centre Galeries in 2006, rising in the ranks to become assistant team leader and then team leader within six years, which he says was slow and steady progress to his successful run as FCTG’s top seller.
He left FCTG in 2011 to live in Argentina for a few years, also working in real estate and finance during COVID.
Rakus returned to FCTG in 2013 as Team Leader of Flight Centre Kings Cross and then FC Kings Meadows in Tasmania from 2016, where he turned the state’s lowest-performing store into the most profitable in 12 months.
“It’s been a slow kind of grind, which makes the success sweeter,” he said, of his journey to two-time award status. “I was really determined, and it made me persevere, try everything and use all my resources to get to where I am now.”
“This is the fun part,” he said of the upcoming 2025 Global Gathering conference and gala event. “And I do love the validation and recognition; it is really nice to be celebrated among your peers.”
“Flight Centre really does lift you up and celebrate success in a positive way. And I think that’s great about our industry.”
All about Flight Centre Collection
Established in June 2024, Flight Centre Collection houses the red-and-white brand’s specialist businesses: Business Travel, Luxury, Complex Air (including Round the World), Groups and Flight Centre Corporate Benefits (formerly Travel Club).
The specialist pillar highlights the deep expertise of consultants such as Rakus, connecting the right client with the right expert and products using customer data and insights and experience-led marketing.
For consultants, it offers the opportunity to specialise in an area of travel they are passionate about and creates a career pathway.
As a back-of-house business, Flight Centre Collection allows team members to work flexible hours and remotely, while also channelling enquiries to these specialist areas.
They also have access to premium products, such as sharper first- and business-class fares, and can leverage supplier relationships to create bespoke itineraries for their discerning clients.
Flight Centre Collection has teams in seven stores in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne and aims to expand to 11 sites and 850 consultants by the end of the year.
Rakus has now started as a Flight Centre Collection consultant in the Luxury space, reporting to Global General Manager Marieke Tucker, and shared his excitement to learn about premium products as part of his new role.
“It’s pretty exciting to become a specialist, and I’m still learning,” he said.
“In this industry, you’re silly if you ever think you know it all. I think I’m very good at asking a lot of questions and not pretending I know it all.”
Rakus cited his strong knowledge of airlines, hotels and cruise and the sales process as the key factors of his successful career to date that he will bring to the Flight Centre Collection team.
“I’m just consistent, there’s nothing super special. I’m motivated to use my skills, sell more first- and business-class flights and luxury cruises, and use my firsthand experiences to share that knowledge with the team,” he said.
Find out more at flightcentre.com.au
