Personal Travel Manager – Karen Farley

The widespread devastation of the Chilean ash cloud, the Christchurch earthquake and Japan’s tsunami were all well documented by media but unexpected events such as these also demonstrate the huge benefit of having your own personal travel manager rather than booking online via an impersonal automated website.  

Karen Farley, personal travel manager for TravelManagers in Queensland was contacted by a long-standing client of hers on Sunday morning 17 July from Queenstown airport.  Jetstar had cancelled his flight from Queenstown to Melbourne due to fog and bad weather leaving him and his two teenage kids languishing at Queenstown airport without information of what was happening and how long the delay would be. 

“Sure this was an inconvenience for my client but the more pressing problem was that his daughter was due to fly from Adelaide to Bali the following day at 12pm so she had to get back to Adelaide.  My client called me in desperation to see what I could do.”

Ms Farley found an alternative flight option ensuring her client’s daughter got back to Adelaide in time via Brisbane, while her client and son stayed in Queenstown and flew back with Jetstar the next day.  When the daughter arrived in Brisbane, Ms. Farley phoned her on arrival to ensure she knew how to transit between the international and domestic terminals. 

“Unfortunately Jetstar didn’t make an announcement until four hours after they were due to depart to advise that they would all have to stay in Queenstown overnight at their own cost and that they would be flown back the next day back to Melbourne via Christchurch and Auckland. While her clients were waiting for this information Ms Farley had organized a replacement flight knowing that the daughter would not be able to get home on Jetstar and travel on to Bali as booked.

Ms Farley says being a personal travel manager assures her clients of the service levels they need 24/7.

“While this was a Sunday morning, it didn’t matter at all, that’s the TravelManagers’ proposition and clients are incredibly grateful plus they’re advocates for life. It’s never abused and having a familiar voice at the end of the phone guiding them through whatever is going on has a very calming effect.  It’s incredibly satisfying knowing I make a difference.”

Ms Farley says having a mobile office makes all the difference when emergency situations arise.

“Being mobile, backed by the best IT systems, allows me to help quickly when I’m called like this.  It’s very much in my nature to want to make clients happy in all parts of my work and I love the challenge of fixing a problem. I can think laterally which often gives me an edge but I couldn’t do it without the technology we have at TravelManagers, it is state-of-the-art.”

Ms Farley says with world events the way they are having a personal travel manager is peace of mind for clients.

“Knowing help is only a phone call away and that the voice is not animated makes all the difference. I’ve certainly had plenty of experience in these sorts of situations, in the last 12 months I’ve helped clients stuck in Lima, Peru with the earthquake and clients in Europe affected by the ash cloud. The personal touch is definitely here to stay and being a personal travel manager is providing me with a huge marketing advantage.”