travel consultant

Flight Centre Canada

I worked at this company for just shy of 5 years. I did get to travel and meet a lot of fellow agents from all over the world. I wouldn't say that I regret working here but it was certainly not worth the stress.

The sales targets are completely unrealistic. For example: I would build a great relationship with a client, spend hours helping them (of course) and make say, $100.00 above board. Of that $100.00, you make on your pay $13.00 which is taxed. They company wants you to make $6000.00 minimum per month. It just isn't realistic in our market. The only way to do it is to charge your client extra which is what "successful" agents do, or to be available to your clients 24/7.  

The culture that this company boasts about so much wasn't a fit for me. It will be a fit for you if you enjoy going to mandatory buzz night events once a month, a forced shop "social" once a month and an unpaid morning meeting once a week before your shift ALL outside of the hours you are getting paid for. Some employees enjoyed all the extra time to get together and party (drinking is very much encouraged) but I was annoyed by it after the first year.  This may be changed though as the company has just settled a 7 million dollar law suit based on all the unpaid hours employees are expected to do.  

I enjoyed my co-workers for the most part. It could be a very fun place to work at times but the competitive nature of sales also made it  dramatic and stressful and management did not have the tools to set a good example because most of them rose up from front line positions and participated in the same behavior. I am an agent for another  travel company now and it is not competitive or stressful like this at all.

You will thrive at Flight Centre if you have ruthless methods to achieve sales targets, love travel and enjoy working around the clock. 

Never had any idea when you'd finish. You may be in for the weekly staff meeting at 8:30 before the shop opens and end up there until midnight - this happened to me several times. You sign away your rights to overtime pay in your contract so it doesn't matter how many hours you work you still get paid the same base on every pay cheque - unless you have to miss work, then they take notice and deduct. I had a colleague at another shop that missed her 30th birthday dinner because she was unable to leave work - her friends and family were waiting at the restaurant for her. There is literally no work/life balance. I never once, in the 12 months I worked there, was able to use or take advantage of any of the company's "great employee travel perks" because I was never, ever able to take time off due to scheduling/management. They have a completely unrealistic commission and sales structure - the cost of seat is almost completely unattainable. Commission is almost always paid out after travel, so if someone books with you in September for a trip in April, and you are expecting $500 on the books for April and they cancel in say, November -- you are then starting the month of April -$500.

Everyday I have been lucky enough to work with an amazing team of people as part of a great company. On a daily basis I meet and work with a wide variety of people from all around the world. Everyone travels and I get to help them make everything from a short business trip to a 3 month dream vacation perfect. The management's experience has made me better at this job and my colleagues make coming to work every day a pleasure. I have learned a tremendous amount about all aspects of travel as well as many transferable skills such as sales experience, technical computer systems, teaching//training courses, written and verbal communication. Overall working for this company has been a good experience but I look forward to new opportunities.

Flight Centre is an amazing company to work for. Lots of support for new people starting up or people who have been around for a while. Great benefits for working with the company such as financial advisors, personal trainers, social nights etc. My typical day generally is spent at the shop, behind a computer doing research for trips that my clients are inquiring about. I have learned alot about the retail travel business and what it takes to be a great sales person. My managers are amazing people and are always around to help. The hardest part of my job is the sales part. I am very good at research, but selling the product is not easy for me to do. The most enjoyable part of my job is the people I work with.

The retail world is exactly what you may expect. Long hours with unpaid OT as you work on a $27,000 a year salary. 

The majority of your income will come from prospective clients. You will make a % of your 'transfer revenue'. For instance, if you close $70,000 in sales at 10% margin ($7,000 revenue) you will net 10 - 12% of that to your pay during that month. 

High performers can bring in 40k a year realistically. 

Culture is great. The company encourages binge drinking and monthly and bi-weekly 'socials' & 'buzz nights' will make the situation slightly better. 

I would not recommend this position.

Sooooo underpaid it hurts. You have to lie to clients and cheat your way to the top. Management will only like you if you make them money otherwise they don't care about you. You put in hours of work/skip lunch/overtime just to get nothing from it. Teams are competitive and don't like helping each other's clients. Waste of time.

I am a people person who genuinely cares about others, at Flightcentre it was about making money, and more often than not by deceiving customers. We did offer some fantastic packages and incredible travelling experiences, but it was all about charging way over the price so we could make more commission, and this was the company's culture, sell, sell, sell. There was also a lack of work life balance if one wanted to reach targets.

I enjoyed working with Flight Centre in Canada. 
A fantastic company with unlimited earning potential and great perks of being in the travel industry. 
Good advancement opportunities and a fun environment.

Flight Centre is a fun company with great incentives. The base pay is low but if you're driven you can make a nice career while selling an excellent product. To be successful you do have to sometimes work long hours and be available in your off time but not all the time. 

Badly managed company with a huge culture of nepotism and alcohol. Salary when I was there was below minimum wage and there was almost no way to make a living on the commission without a huge amount of unpaid and uncompensated overtime. Reasonably good training but toxic culture and does not live up to all the shiny benefits they show you at the interview.

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