Air Operations Coordinator

ABOUT US Oceania Cruises is the world’s leading culinary and destination focused cruise line. The seven small, luxurious ships carry a maximum of 1,238 guests and feature the finest cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries that span the globe. Expertly curated travel experiences aboard the designer-inspired, small ships call on more than 450 marquee and boutique ports across Europe, Alaska, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, New England-Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Tahiti and the South Pacific in addition to the epic 180-day Around the World Voyages. There is also a second 1,200-guest Allura Class ship on order for delivery in 2025. With headquarters in Miami, Oceania Cruises is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., a diversified cruise operator of leading global cruise brands which include Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. 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 nearbyPension Scheme Private Medical Development Opportunities, partnered with Dale CarnegieAppreciation Bonus 6 weeks- paid sickness Discounted Cruise Programme 25 days paid holiday + 8 Bank Holidays Bus Discounts ROLE LOCATIONThis role will be based in our office in Southampton on a 3:2 basis with Mondays and Fridays working from home. BASIC PURPOSE The Air Operations Coordinator is a key role within the Guest Services team of Oceania, 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 Oceania & Regent, 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 RESPONSIBILITIESTicketing: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 classesBuild 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 utilized 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 allocationsReporting: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 reconciliationUK Exclusives & Sales Promotions – Concierge CollectionSpecial offer cruise fares 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.Cruise Pricing- Assist with pricing and distribution of fares. Distribution of cruise pricing received from US office. Check fares on every sailing and identify price changes. Hide confidential areas of spreadsheets and distribute to relevant parties. Assist with pricing and distribution of special offers.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 cruisesSales & MarketingAssist sales & marketing department with proofing for all ads and brochures. Ensure we have latest airline informationCorporate Travel RequestsBook 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 Out of Hours CoverProvide 24-Hour emergency cover, on a rota basis, for both Oceania & Regent Seven Seas UK/EMEA guests. Mobile phone and access to reservations systems will be provided.EXPERIENCE Airline knowledge of Ideally 2-3 years’ experience in a similar roleFares & Ticketing 1&2 qualifications or 2-3 years of experience in a similar role Customer Service experienceCOMPENTENCIES / 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 faresCustomer focused, excellent communicator and listenerStrong product and destination knowledgeAttention to detail and excellent organisational skillsIT literate Working knowledge of MS Office applications, including Excel and WordAbility to multi-task in a fast-paced environmentDemonstrates resilience and flexibility to business needsAbility to work well as part of a team Honest; consistent; positive & enthusiastic approachWell presented** If you do not hear back from us within 10 days of sending us your application, it means that unfortunately on this occasion you have been unsuccessful.**