Jetblue Airways Booking Agents Training Schedule Coursework

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Preparation required
Background
References

Abstract

Airline reservations agents are people tasked with the duties of handling customer inquiries, booking flights and hotel rooms for them, especially for long distant travel. As such, such people are supposed to be highly trained as far as customer service and their individual tasks are concerned. For this reason, JetBlue Airways has employed new 30 airline reservations agents. In order to tackle their tasks effectively, these agents are required to undergo thorough training on the duties of reservations agents. This paper, therefore, provides a training schedule for JetBlue Airways’ reservations agents.

Program title

Airline Reservations Agents Training Schedule.

Objectives of the lesson

To equip the reservations agents being trained with numerous skills, expertise, and knowledge required to handle clients efficiently.

Preparation required

Physical environment

The training will take place at JetBlue Airways training hall, where all trainees are expected to assemble as early as 7 o’clock.

Equipment environment

The company will provide training equipment such as computers, phones, travel manuals for the trainees to familiarize themselves with what is expected of them.

Trainees

The training will include 30 newly recruited reservations agents.

Background

Airline reservations agents are personnel tasked with the duty of booking schedules and flights for passengers. Often, the agents only make contact with the clients through the phone. At the central offices of any airline company, the reservations agents sit behind computer terminals with their headsets on ready to take any inquiry calls from clients from different parts of the world (Beckmann, 2008). Levine and Buegler (2002) point out that the reservations agents often carry their tasks on a rotational basis considering that airlines serve wide areas. The reservations agents are concerned with the travel details of the customers such as the time when the customer wants to fly, as well as their specific destination. After obtaining such information, the agents use particular codes to establish the availability of any flight and space that suits such a customer (Tamal & Taylor, 2008). If any space is available, the screen will display the fares and flight numbers. For a case whereby the chosen flights are full, the airline reservations agent ought to provide alternative flights to the customer. In this lesson plan, the focus is on JetBlue Airways, which wishes to develop a training schedule for its new 30 reservations airline agents.

JetBlue Reservation Agents Training schedule

Day	Title of activity		Description of Activity
Day 1 5-6 a.m.	Arrival time:		Trainees are expected to arrive at JetBlue Airways grounds.
6-7.30 a.m.	Breakfast:		All trainees assemble at the dining hall for breakfast. Trainees with special dietary cases are advised to present their cases to the trainee instructor beforehand.
7.30-9.00 a.m.		Company Introduction Training Manuals	JetBlue Airways Company is one of the most trusted companies in the world in the provision of first-class travel services (Stott & Revell, 2004). According to Van (2012), the company puts a lot of emphasis on the provision of an excellent travel experience through simple but pleasant service delivery approaches. The trainees are provided with training manuals. The objective of the manuals is to provide the reservation agents with an overview of what to expect during the training session.
9-10 a.m. 10-11 a.m.		Break Introduction to equipment	Tea will be served during the break. The trainees are required to be familiar with the equipment that they will be using during their employment period at JetBlue Airways. Thus, they will be introduced to equipment such as computer terminals, as well as how to make use of such equipment. The trainees will gain knowledge on the purpose of the computer terminals, the viewing screen, and the keyboard. The objective of the introductory training on the equipment is to ensure that the reservations agents have no difficulties when it comes to the actual work, and the equipment to use during any session.
11-12.30 p.m.		Questions and answers	The trainees will be given room to ask any questions regarding the equipment used by airline reservations agents. This will help the trainees to be competent in their knowledge about the reservations agent job and the equipment used.
12.30 – 2 p.m. 2 -4.30 p.m.		Lunch Break Evaluation	A one and half lunch break will be allowed and all trainees should assemble at the dining hall for lunch. Trainees will be tested on their understanding of the equipment used by airline reservations agents. This will be done in the form of a question and answer session whereby the trainees will take different roles to ascertain the competences of one another as far as knowledge of the equipment is concerned.
Day 2
5-6 a.m.		Arrival time:	Trainees are expected to arrive at JetBlue Airways grounds.
6-7.30 a.m.		Breakfast:	All trainees assemble at the dining hall for breakfast.
7.30-9 a.m. 9-10.30 a.m. 10.30 -11 a.m. 11-12.30 a.m. 12.30-2 p.m. 2 – 4.30 p.m.		Day 1’s Activities recap Product and service knowledge and skillsBREAK Training reflection Lunch break Role-plays	The trainees will be taken through a recap of the previous day’s activities. The reason for a recap is to ensure that the trainees are extremely informed on the basics of reservations agents’ jobs. Knowledge about products that airline reservations agents deal with is important. Thus, the trainees will be taken through an awareness session. Here, the focus will be on airline services such as booking hotel rooms for clients, planning air travel for clients, as well as the actual process of booking the travel. In addition, the trainees will gain knowledge on fare terminologies in air travel, the codes that are used when a client calls for an inquiry, the strategies that apply when constructing fare for a given flight, as well as the regulations applicable in air travel reservations.The trainees are expected to compare their training manuals with what they have been taught. Questions are welcome at this stage. A one and half lunch break will be allowed and all trainees should assemble at the dining hall for lunch. The trainees will be evaluated on their expertise and knowledge in air travel reservations. Thus, trainees will be carrying out the role-plays in turns whereby each individual will act as a customer while the others play the role of the reservation agents. This session is aimed at gauging the effectiveness of the previous session.
Day 3 5- 6 a.m. 6-7.30 a.m. 7.30- 9 a.m.		Arrival time: Breakfast Revisit Day 2’s Activities	Trainees are expected to arrive at JetBlue Airways grounds. All trainees assemble at the dining hall for breakfast. The trainees will briefly go through the previous day’s work. The revisit will help in judging how effective the training was, as well as pinpoint areas where the learners require more effort.
9-10.30 a.m. 10.30-11 a.m. 11-12.30 p.m. 12.30 – 2 p.m. 2-4.30 p.m. 4.30-5 p.m.		Automation systems BREAK Pricing and Ticketing Lunch Break Whole training review Evaluation	The reservations services in air travel have changed from manual to automated technologies. The trainees will be taken through the automated systems of air travel reservations. This lesson is aimed at providing the necessary information, knowledge, and skills on the interpretation of fare quote displays, as well as rule displays. Pricing and ticketing is an important process in airline travel (Miller, 2004). As such, the agents are required to be conversant with the skills and expertise needed for suitable pricing and ticketing. The reservations agents on training will be taken through the entire process of pricing and ticketing. At the end of the session, it is expected that the reservations agents will be in a position to effectively handle pricing and ticketing process with ease. During this session, the trainees will be given the opportunity to try their understanding of the whole process. The reservations agents will be assigned different assignments on a rotational basis, whereby they will be given the opportunity to serve either at the boarding gate or even behind the ticket counter. The reservations agents will discover that there are different tasks at every different point of service. For example, the reservations agents will learn that visitors make reservations, as well as confirm their reservations at the ticket counter. A one and half lunch break will be allowed and all trainees should assemble at the dining hall for lunch. This session reviews the entire training to ascertain its effectiveness as far as the duties of airline reservations agents are concerned. The trainees will be evaluated through assignments whereby the 30 agents will be divided into a group of two. Each one of them would play the role of an agent and a customer interchangeably. According to Linder (2009), such a strategy is suitable since it gives each participant a chance to exercise their level of knowledge and skills in travel reservations. The trainees will be evaluated on the effectiveness of their duties during the role-plays. The focus will be on excellent customer service, etiquette, and a full understanding of their duties as reservations agents.

References

Baechle, T. (2008). Essentials of strong airline reservations training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Beckmann, M. (2008). Decision and Team Problems in Airline Reservations. Econometrica, 26 (1), 134.

Copeland, D., & McKenney, J. (2010). Airline Reservations Systems: Lessons from History. MIS Quarterly, 12 (3), 353.

Levine, S., & Buegler, R. (2002). Large-scale systems engineering for airline reservations. Electr. Eng., 81 (8), 604-608.

Levine, S., & Harrison, G. (2003). A fast-response data communications system for airline reservations. Trans. AIEE, Part I: Comm. Electron., 81 (6), 590-600.

Linder, R. (2009). The Development of Manpower and Facilities Planning Methods for Airline Telephone Reservations Offices. OR, 20 (1), 3.

Miller, J. (2004). The State of the Airline Industry. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 2 (4), 97-101.

Stott, T., & Revell, R. (2004). Highly recommended. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tamal C., & Taylor, M. (2008). Globalizing worlds and new economic configurations. Farnham, England: Ashgate Pub.

Van, J. (2012). Air Travel Better and Smarter. Cork: BookBaby.

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