We’ve done all the hard work, so you don’t have to! Read on for the top ten travel news stories we think you need to know today.
1. Flight Centre’s offer to Dick Smith employees
Newly acquired businesses and growing profits have created a few vacancies over at Flight Centre and what better way to fill those roles than by making them available to outgoing Dick Smith employees.
A Flight Centre spokesperson confirmed to KarryOn this morning that the travel group is giving nearly 2,500 Dick Smith employees facing redundancy the chance to cross over into travel by fast tracking them to the final stage of the hiring process.
This will put them in the lead to fill roles in sales plus other supporting positions. Those interested should contact anewstart@flightcentre.com for more information.
2. The sexiest profession in travel is…
Pilots and Flight Attendants may have a reputation for being the sexiest people in travel (those suits and smiles *drools*), but apparently they’re not the only ones turning A LOT of heads.
It’s actually people quietly working behind the scenes to promote destinations, airlines, cruise lines and tours that have been recognised as having one of the most sexiest professions.
Who are these people exactly? They’re the Public Relations (PR) guys who help organise promotional events, famils, work closely with media and swiftly (not to mention brilliantly) handle any potential damage to a company’s reputation.
3. helloworld appoints new CFO
It didn’t take long for helloworld to replace its outgoing Chief Financial Officer, Jenny McDonald.
The travel group has appointed Michael Burnett to the role, less than a week after the senior executive announced her resignation.
Burnett will step into the role from 11 April 2016, bringing with him some 20 years experience in senior financial roles.
More recently he held the role of CFO of Transurban North America and has also held senior roles at CSL Limited and PwC. He is an experienced finance executive with strong and established credentials in directing finance teams, streamlining financial systems, cashflow management and business improvement.
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Andrew Burnes said Michael’s strong financial and commercial acumen had made him a stand out candidate for the role.
“Michael has extensive experience in the management of all aspects of the finance function and I believe that his contribution will support the growth of our business and he will make a great addition to the HLO leadership team.”
Andrew Burnes, helloworld Chief Executive
4. Joyce urges Britain to stay with the EU
Qantas’ boss, Alan Joyce, is urging Britain to vote in favour of staying in the European Union, saying it’s good for trade and leaving could complicate cross-border business.
Joining a number of aviation leaders on the pro-EU side, Joyce said it is in Britain’s “economic interest” to stay in the EU.
“What has happened in the EU in terms of free trade and the growth of economic activity has been good for the UK and the EU,” he said.
“We are hopeful it doesn’t occur. We think it [the EU] is good for us to get connectivity into Europe.”
5. ‘Economy pax have the right to not sit like sardines’
A US Senator is fighting for a standard seat-size for commercial airlines after noting they’re now sitting “like sardines”.
New York Democrat, Charles Schumer, told the US’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that there has been “constant shrinking” by carriers, with cut backs on leg room and seat width. These changes come as airlines try to fit more passengers on board to meet demand.
“One of the most vexing things when you travel on an aeroplane is there’s almost no leg room on your standard flight,” he said.
He believes the average distance rows has cut back from 89s cm in the 1970s to around 79cm today. He hopes an amendment is made to the FAA Reauthorisation Bill to introduce a set seat-size guideline.
6. Working at Travel Counsellors is… satisfying
Work from home, set your own hour and spend more time with the family – who wouldn’t be satisfied with a job like that?
A recent study on Travel Counsellors found the company has “extraordinarily high levels of job satisfaction” among its network of agents.
The company says it is bucking the trend by offering viable, sustainable employment options for experienced agents keen to work from home on their own travel business.
When asked the question, “What do you love most about being a Travel Counsellor?”, the agents responded with a wide variety of answers, with having the ability to sell a wide range of high quality travel products to clients being a common significant factor boosting job satisfaction for Travel Counsellors.
Apart from having the freedom to sell whatever travel products best suit their clients, other key contributors to job satisfaction include having access to superior technology, receiving high levels of support, having the potential to earn more and having the flexibility to work from home, avoid commuting and foster a greater amount of work/life balance.
7. Insider Journeys expands Asia Guru program
Insider Journeys has expanded its Asia Guru agent-only training program to include new modules on India and Japan.
Managing Director, Paul Hole, says the decision to add these destinations into the program was in response to the growing demand from agents.
He said the company has seen “strong outbound growth” to both countries.
The modules now available are: The Insider Journeys’ Story; Vietnam; Cambodia & Laos; Burma & China; Japan and India.
Agents who complete the three levels of the program – Bronze Tiger, Silver Buffalo and Golden Dragon – are eligible to receive up to a 30 percent discount on small group journeys and fantastic rates on Insider Journeys’ Private Travel products.
8. Earn bonus Scenic rewards points
Agents can earn $100 worth of bonus Scenic Rewards points when they book and deposit any new 2017 Scenic luxury Europe or France river cruise before 29 April 2016 through Scenic’s online bookings system Express Book.
Members will receive $100 worth of bonus Scenic Rewards points for each new 2017 booking they make. Agents must apply their Scenic Rewards number to the booking before 29 April otherwise they will not receive points. All bonus points will appear in members’ accounts by 11 May 2016 regardless of when guests travel.
All points can be redeemed on an expanded catalogue of over 4,000 products and experiences. These include favourite items such as David Jones, Myer and JB Hi-Fi vouchers plus big name brands like Apple, Bose and Swarovski and new brands to the program including Nutribullet, Fitbit and Calvin Klein.
9. United ‘represents’ at IMM
United sponsored around 150 media and suppliers to discuss the United States and its many attractions earlier this month at the International Media Marketplace (IMM).
Lunch guests heard from Julie Reid United Airlines Director of Australia and New Zealand Sales, Nick Wayland CEO and Founder of TravMedia, as well as Anne Madison Chief Strategy & Communications Officer of Brand USA.
During the event guests were asked to craft their best tweet using the hashtag #UnitedUSA2016 to go into the draw to win a United Airlines BusinessFirst ticket. Participants had to describe, in 140 characters or less, which US destination they’d like to travel to in 2016 and why.
The winning tweet came from Kerry Heaney,The Road Ahead, Eat, and drink+beKerry, with her tweet reading “Take me to the chapel in Las Vegas so I can be married by Elvis and drive away in a pink Cadillac.”
10. JetBlue offers passengers a free flight… but there’s a big catch
It would have been one of the happiest moments to ever occur at 32,000-feet when cabin crew on a recent JetBlue service announced everyone on board was receiving a free flight.
But there was one pretty tricky catch – everyone on the aircraft had to agree on the destination of the freebie.
The incentive was delivered to some 150 passengers as part of the carrier’s ‘Reach Across the Aisle’ social experiment, which aimed to find out if a free JetBlue flight was enough to encourage its guests to compromise.
