If you’ve ever shopped for plane tickets, you know that finding the right itinerary at the right price can be somewhat overwhelming. Particularly when arriving and departing in different cities. So imagine the organization required of Travel Manager, Billy Torres, who spends his days arranging flights for hundreds of tour groups that can consist of as many as 100 travelers. And while he’s only worked with Explorica for a little over a year, Billy is an industry veteran familiar with airline procedure. He knows how to get the best prices and the best schedules available. To shed some light on how he does it, Billy was nice enough to answer a few questions about the ins and outs of his job.

How exactly do you arrange group flights?
I’m responsible for Latin American groups, so each day I check how many groups have registered and request flight space for those groups. To do so, I look at each airline’s flight schedules and availability, using Amadeus reservation software. Then I call the airline to make the transaction. We get a special group rate that can only be booked by phone.

I also go through the 320 or so groups that I manage to make sure there have been no changes in group size or special requests. Along with the rest of my compadres, we deal with trying to get the best flights for our customers and do so while keeping costs low.

What are some of the challenges of your job?
Dealing with Latin American space is always challenging because we don’t have as many airline contracts as we do in other regions. I always have to figure out creative ways to get some groups down to Latin America while staying as inexpensive as possible.

An example is a current group traveling from Bismarck. There are limited flights out of Bismarck and certainly no direct flights to Cancun, so I managed to get Northwest to give me an ad hoc contract for space from Bismarck to St. Paul, Minnesota. Then I used one of our contracts to get them from St. Paul to Cancun so that they have minimal connections and we are right at budget for this group.

What other airlines do you work with?
We use Delta and American a lot. But also Taca, Lan Chile, Varig and a number of others.

Does your Spanish come in handy when organizing Latin America itineraries? When do you use it?
You can create a better relationship with people when you speak their language, whatever it may be. Speaking Spanish is especially useful if we have a problem with a flight or if I need to need to negotiate a special rate with an airline agent. The more the agent can relate to me, the more willing he/she may be to help me out.

What about your own travel experiences, where do you like to go?
My last big vacation was to Europe during summer 2005. I was there for two weeks and visited Lucerne, Turin, and Nice. Besides that, I also spent some time in Costa Rica in late August with the Flights team.
 
But if I could go anywhere in the world, it would be Africa. Without a doubt. I would love to go on safari.

So what are your suggestions for staying comfortable on a long flight?
Try to get some rest on the flight. Get a window seat and pillow and just sleep through it. If you’re not a sleeper, bring a good book. And if you have a laptop or personal DVD player, bring movies that will keep you entertained. Also, keep hydrated by drinking water and bring snacks you like—don’t rely on the in–flight foods. Another suggestion is to make friends. If you’re on a long flight, time will go by quicker if you have someone to talk to.

Most importantly, understand that there are over 200 people on any given flight and things rarely go exactly as planned. Be flexible so you won’t be disappointed when the flight takes off 15 minutes late.

When Billy’s not scheduling flights, he’s playing basketball, reading books or collecting stamps. He can be reached at torres@explorica.com