Air Operations Coordinator

ABOUT US

Regent Seven Seas Cruises® delivers the pinnacle of ocean cruising aboard the world’s most well-appointed ships, with every luxury included, freeing our travelers to embrace and enjoy every moment to its fullest.

We travarse the globe, offering unforgettable excursions and opportunities to enjoy each region in its most glorious state for a truly unrivalled experience.

All Regent voyages include all-suite accommodations, round-trip air, impeccable service, exquisite cuisine with fine wines and spirits, unlimited internet access, the world’s greatest destinations, unlimited excursions, all onboard gratuities, ground transfers and a pre-cruise hotel package for guests staying in concierge-level suites and higher.

Regent’s all-suite, four-ship fleet will add two new ships within the next five years.

2020 saw the launch of Seven Seas Splendor™, inviting our guests to experience luxury perfected.

In 2023, we look forward to the arrival of a stunning sixth cruise ship.

By being part of NCLH, our competitive benefits packages offer you and your family the opportunity to stay healthy and thrive both personally and professionally.

BENEFITS:

• Free car parking nearby.
• Pension Scheme.
• Private Medical.
• 6 weeks- paid sickness.
• Discounted Cruise Programme.
• 25 days paid holiday + 8 Bank Holidays.
• Bus Discounts.

ROLE LOCATION

This role will be based in our office in Southampton, SO15 2JU on a 3:2 basis with Mondays & Fridays working from home. 

BASIC PURPOSE

The Air Operations Coordinator is a key role within the Guest Services team of Regent, providing information & booking of air services to the internal Guest Services team in the UK office as well as servicing calls from the Outbound Team based in Miami. Knowledge of air product and airlines is paramount to ensure the very best air schedule is booked for our guests.

This is an extremely varied role which not only includes air related activities, air pricing & planning and Staff Travel but also organising and managing special departures for our bespoke Concierge Collection land packages.

We always aim to deliver an exceptional level of Customer Service and respond to all incoming calls & emails in a timely manner, delivering highly accurate work to ensure profitability and company goals and be flexible in approach to all tasks. An ability to multi-task in a busy team environment is essential for this role as well as liaising and assisting colleagues with excess workload within the department.

The team also provide our critical Out of Hours Emergency Telephone service, covering Regent & Oceania, delivering round the clock assistance for guests travelling to and from our ships. A background in a reservation, guest relations or operations role would be advantageous.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Ticketing:

• Experience of issuing all kinds of air tickets is required - nett/BT/IT/Cat 35/ published fares.
• To include correct fare and all applicable taxes, fees & charges.
• Ensure all entries are correct including baggage, fare basis, endorsements, fare construction and tour code.
• Accurately process refunds of fares and taxes to ensure the companies liabilities are kept to a minimum.
• Re-issue or re-validate tickets which have been changed since the original ticket issue.

Airline Contracts & Pricing:

• Identify which airlines offer best price and flight options for each route and collate information to provide to the reservations departments.
• Calculate appropriate air supplements to be charged. Includes ad-hoc requests. Understand fare rules as displayed in GDS and be able to identify correct fares to use.
• Ensure awareness of tactical and special offers released by the airlines and identify ways to promote these to the reservations departments.
• Ensure all departments are kept up to date with any changes which may be relevant to them.
• Ensure reservations are advised of any new routes or ticketing classes.
• Build all pricing for air arrangements and prepare spreadsheets for upload by US office into NVS.

Group Flights & Allocations:

• By monitoring flight availability and booking patterns identify where group space can be utilised and take appropriate action to calculate cost savings.
• Monitor sales to minimise exposure to penalties from the airlines. Negotiate extensions where possible. Enter names ready for ticketing. Keep reservations up to date with availability of group allocations.

Reporting:

• Pull reports from GDS (Sabre) and from Reservation system (NVS) to assist with quality check, hotel and transfer manifests for the ships and our US office.
• Using GDS (Sabre’s) back-office system to ensure all ticket details are stored in the database and pull relevant information from the system to assist with BSP reconciliation.

UK Exclusives & Sales Promotions – Concierge Collection:

• Work with special offer cruise fares supplied by US office to add extra value to the cruise package (Concierge Collection).
• Source hotel & ground arrangements as and when required and cost to form package arrangements.
• Build pricing for integration into cruise pricing and prepare for loading within Reservation System (NVS).
• Maintain and manage the package through to departure including sourcing of tour manager if required.
• Check fares on every sailing and identify price changes. Hide confidential areas of spreadsheets and distribute to relevant parties.
• Check special offer fares received from US office. Confirm heads and value of existing bookings. Work with MD & Sales department on distribution to selected agents. Liaise with revenue management to build promotions in Reservation system (NVS) and maintain reports of bookings figures

General & other duties:

• Pull reports from Reservation system (NVS) for specific cruises and quality check all flight, transfer and forced-overnight accommodation details.
• Ensure flights booked match Reservation system (NVS) and all OSI remarks are correct as per the airline’s contract.
• Shore to ship manifest updates (pre/post transfer arrangements).
• Work daily GDS (Sabre) queues to ensure all bookings within ticketing queue are checked and entered onto air analysis spreadsheet and correct ticketing deadlines are assigned.
• Action all time changes and ensure queues are worked in a timely manner.
• Update PNR for all seat requests, special service requests and vendor remarks.
• Assist reservations with queries including but not limited to deviations, stopovers, alternative routings and carriers, upgrading with non-contracted airlines, tailor-made itineraries.
• Investigate involuntary downgrades and re-routes, denied boarding, lost baggage.
• Research, plan and organise and manage pre/post cruise packages to add value to sailings on an adhoc basis.
• Work with our ground agents to supply transfers/hotels/tours as needed and build packages to sell with our cruises.

Sales & Marketing:

• Assist sales & marketing department with proofing for all ads and brochures. Ensure we have latest airline information.

Corporate Travel Requests:

• Book and ticket all corporate travel requests from staff within the company for company business only to include air, hotel and UK transfers. Ensure correct approval is obtained and staff are adhering to company policy.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• GDS Experience, including ticketing (Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport).
• Knowledge of Air Contracts and Nett Fares.
• Experience of issuing different tickets – Nett/BT/IT/Cat 35/ published fares.
• Strong product and destination knowledge.
• Attention to detail and excellent organisational skills.
• IT literate- Working knowledge of MS Office applications, including Excel and Word
• Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrates resilience and flexibility to business needs.

EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION:

• Airline knowledge- Ideally 2-3 years’ experience in a similar role.
• Fares & Ticketing 1&2 qualifications or 2-3 years of experience in a similar role.
• Customer Service experience.

HOURS OF WORK:

The position, although based in Southampton, is responsible for all Air Reservations in conjunction with a Regent Seven Seas Cruise from the UK & EMEA region and therefore, where applicable, may be required to work covering European Hours & European holidays. UK holidays that fall on EU working days are normal working days for the position. The flexibility to assist with overtime on evenings & weekends or when emergencies arise.

Mon-Fri:- 09h00 – 17h30

Sat:- 09h00 – 15h00 (as required)

**If you do not hear back from me within 4 working weeks of sending us your application, it means that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful**