Flight Centre Travel Group Reviews

Pros

Great benefits Great co-workers Great company

Cons

This company I’m sure has some cons but I can’t think of one right now so can’t be that bad

Pros

Great environment and great colleagues. Promote from within. Great pay and benefits

Cons

Upgrade Account Management tools and resources

Pros

People are very warm and helping

Cons

working hours which is 8.5 and no job flexibility

Pros

Culture is good outside of the headquarters in Montvale NJ

Cons

Recruiting is a joke. Do not work here. No career development whatsoever, no annual raises or performance reviews & toxic work environment. Extremely high turnover company wide and especially in HR - a lot of employees fear their boss.

Pros

Met some lovely co-workers who are still friends even though we've all since left FC and moved onto much greener pastures. If you like to drink, there is plenty of that at the many required post-work day (non-paid) company functions. Initially thought the travel benefits were decent, but it was nearly impossible to get vacation time off requests approved as the company blacks out much of the year--then you have your entire office fighting to take time off that doesn't overlap.

Cons

Unlike other agencies, FC will have you act as an accountant, receptionist, and sales person on top of being a travel agent. Most companies have these as separate roles. You'll easily see what should be an 8 hour workday end up being 12+ hours since they have you wearing so many hats. Computer systems are archaic (think 1980s-level) and frequently freeze or break down. The cheaply made uniforms. (On top of other things make you really feel like you're part of a cult.) Having to be dishonest with customers in order to make a livable wage--marking up fares above the public/commercial price available to anyone. Base salary is much lower than any other agency. Turnover is high since staff leave for other agencies after finding out how much they start at. For such a big company, the commission structure is very low (unless the company is receiving it on the back end and employees don't see it). To use an example, for most airlines you're lucky if they offer 5% commission. On a $500 ticket, that would be only $25. Unlike other agencies, FC actually charges the agents to print tickets--something that IS your job. So, for that $25 that the airline pays out, FC charges you around 4% in "credit card fees," so you lose $20. You would think that would leave you with $5, but then you're hit with FC's $10 ticketing fee because you're not ticketing a preferred airline. So, you now OWE FC $5 that would come out of your paycheck to issue one ticket. Yes, FC charges customers a service fee on tickets, but that also gets reduced by "credit card fees." (How else do most people pay for airline tickets?) By nickel and dime-ing its employees that they say they value so much, FC forces its agents to mark up fares in order to survive. How is it a problem? If you have a customer who has a ticket they think is, say, $800, but it's really only a $500 ticket, that can create BIG problems later on if the customer has to have changes to their ticket made by the airline. We've had customers stuck at airports because they unexpectedly had to fork over a few hundred dollars extra at the airport because their tickets were marked up. FC has already been caught doing it repeatedly in Australia and the UK and it continues to be a problem. (Just look up the various news stories and law suits on Google.) It's somewhat heartbreaking because this could have been such a great company but it's the employees who suffer for what corporate does.

Pros

Nothing I can think of .. at least for what I was doing

Cons

Low pay and unethical practices

Pros

Travel, culture, reasonably autonomous and trusted, strong consistent growth is encouraging. Broadly speaking the mission of the company is positive.

Cons

Opportunity for mentorship at middle management in the US operations seemed non-existent. Confused leisure operations, lacking commitment to digital/online. Growth beyond middle-management seemingly impossible.