Transat is us

Simon Asselin never starts his day without his checklists. As Air Transat’s Line Maintenance Crew Chief at Montreal – Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, he manages the team of eight highly qualified mechanics and technicians who specialize in avionics, audiovisual systems and aircraft cabins, responsible for inspecting Air Transat’s fleet of Airbus A310 and A330 aircraft.

When one of these aircraft lands, Simon and his team have a limited amount of time to check it from top to bottom, both inside and out. Armed with their vital checklists, they proceed methodically. Their work requires extensive technical skills and years of experience to become familiar with the look, sound and overall impression of an aircraft.

“We have to work very fast,” Simon explains. “We check things such as instrument readings and determine if there is a real problem or just an indicator error. A member of my team also checks the interior of the aircraft, seat by seat.”

Simon has been passionate about airplanes since childhood; his father was an aircraft engine mechanic at the Pratt & Whitney plant near Montreal. After completing his studies at École nationale d’aérotechnique du Québec, he joined Transat at age 24 when the Company was still flying Lockheed L-1011 aircraft.

That’s where Simon learned the true meaning of teamwork. “Each team member has specific skills and it is important to be able to rely on them,” he says. “We have grown together as a team so we know each other very well. That is one of the big pluses of our job.”

She’s excited by new experiences and empowered by tackling challenges. Isabelle Boulanger, an employee of Transat Tours Canada since 1993, doesn’t like staying in the comfort zone too long. With a diploma in Tourism and Travel from LaSalle College, she has served respectively as a Sales Representative, Reservations Agent, Co-ordinator, Supervisor and, today, as a Director managing the budget and human resources of the Customer Contact Centre, which answers calls from thousands of Canadian travel agents.

Her career path at Transat was not unusual. “You can climb the ladder quickly if you’re ready to learn new things and roll up your sleeves,” she notes.

Isabelle has shown many times that she’s up for a challenge, particularly during the integration of two Transat teams. “We had to centralize the reservations services and unify the working methods of two different teams,” she says, adding: “It was very exciting!” She also oversaw the development and implementation of several technological tools, including the online cruise reservation system. She also collaborated on a call virtualization project.

Her greatest challenge on a day-to-day basis is motivating her 140 employees, who answer an average of more than 2,500 calls daily. “For me, the important thing is creating a pleasant working environment, based on open communication. And I think we succeed. When it’s time for people to leave, they always tell me they’re happy to be taking on new challenges, but that they’ll miss the atmosphere at the Centre.”

Do you have energy to burn? Are you a multi-talented singer, dancer and athlete? Do you fancy travelling to faraway places? Franck Bouquet may have a job for you! Since 2005, he has been hiring members of the activity teams for the 31 Club Lookéa all-inclusive resorts around the world. In November and December alone, the three Activities Team Coordinators conduct more than 500 interviews to eventually hire the 300 employees who will entertain the 180,000 visitors to these famous French vacation villages.

But wait…it’s not all rest and relaxation! The dynamic attitude and constant good humour that go with the job require a lot of energy, even in these dream surroundings. “But being part of the activities team is the greatest job in the world,” Franck insists. “It’s very motivating to be in contact with people from all walks of life and to help them forget work.” He ought to know, having been part of the clubs Lookéa activities team, sports coordinator and village leader himself in the past.

Doesn’t he miss the vibrant village life just a little bit, now that he’s based at Look Voyages’ head office in Paris? “No, because the office atmosphere is excellent,” he says. “It’s the same Lookéa family spirit.” Plus, he gets to visit at least 10 clubs each year, where he evaluates the members of the activity teams and decides, among other things, if they can assume more responsibilities the following year.

“Naturally, I assess their dynamism but also their people skills,” he says. “The strength of our clubs is built on the fact that the members of the activity team are always there and accessible to vacationers.” Doubtless because Lookéa understands that the most enduring holiday memories are often of the people we met.

Amy Ellis’s warm voice and natural curiosity leave a lasting impression. Talking to her, you understand quite quickly that this Reservations Agent is equally as interested in finding out more about the person she’s talking to as she is in selling a product. “Customers call because they trust us; that’s why I listen to them and talk frankly,” she explains.

“I love helping them organize their trips,” she adds with the exuberance of her 29 years. “It’s almost as exciting as if I were travelling myself.”

She asks her customers questions about their age, level of physical fitness and tastes in order to be able to suggest trips that suit their needs. “For instance, if they are older and would rather travel by train, I suggest the Rocky Mountaineer, a railway service that the British really appreciate,” she explains.

Amy answers at least 100 calls a day. Some customers are only calling to book flights, but others don’t know exactly what they want and appreciate her opinion. 

Born in London, England, she started learning about the travel industry while working as a receptionist. She took a tourism management course at South Bank University in London for four years. Her personal travel experiences are varied; they range from trips to seaside resorts to more exotic adventures. 

Tiffany Forese loves problem-solving. It’s doubtless why she wanted a career in industrial relations. But she caught the travel bug while working part-time with Transat Distribution Canada’s Call Centre during her studies. She joined the Company full-time in 2003 and four years later found herself leading the brand-new Call Centre team devoted to modifications.

This little five-person crew makes the changes requested by customers who have reserved via the Call Centre or Transat’s Canadian B2C transactional websites. “We handle about 40 requests a day,” the young Supervisor notes. “By talking with the customers, we are able to advise them on the best option to suit their needs.” 

A bit less pleasant task is having to inform customers that their flight has been delayed or cancelled. “When we explain the situation straightforwardly, people are generally very understanding,” Tiffany says. “Obviously, a lot of people would like to be compensated with a free ticket! But we still try to find ways to accommodate them. I love this aspect of my work. It’s certainly not routine!”

When the situation requires – such as ensuring a business traveller doesn’t miss an important meeting – she sometimes has to come up with solutions that are a little out of the ordinary. “Our managers are very open to our ideas,” she says. “Discussions with them are simple and direct, which goes a long way toward maintaining the motivating atmosphere that exists in the company.”

Donna Glover had an “Aha!” moment when, as a young travel consultant in 1989, she realized the incomparable value of interacting with clients.

“I asked myself ‘why the heck did I go to school?’ ” she says, now manager of Marlin Travel’s Bayshore and Orleans branches in the Ottawa area. “There’s so much I learned at my job from just dealing with people.”

Nearly 20 years after she finished her travel and tourism studies and started her first job with Marlin Travel, her dedication to both the people she supervises and the clients she deals with has made her one of Transat’s standout employees.

She enjoys the challenges of problem-solving, motivating sales people and answering 50 to 100 emails on some days. “Everybody has different experiences so I go in with an open-mind and I’m always learning.” Donna shuttles between the two branches, working with six people in each office. “The business is always changing, but there are great people in both branches and I really like working with them. It’s very rewarding.”

Donna is proud to be part of the Transat team. “We’re the largest travel network in Canada and among the best in the industry,” she says.   “Years ago, we were just order-takers for people wanting that property they saw in a brochure. Now we take away people’s Internet worries. We just tell people ‘Don’t worry, relax. We’ll take care of everything.’ ”

Donna has gone on some amazing trips, like the cruise she took in the Mediterranean last year and the holiday she hopes to take this year in Jamaica.

When Jhadyd Gonzalez completed his Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature at Las Villas Central University of Santa Clara, Cuba, he certainly hadn’t the slightest inkling he’d someday be working in a land of ice and snow!

It all began in 2000, in Cayo Coco, Cuba. “Because I spoke both English and French, I was able to get a job as a destination representative for Nolitours,” Jhadyd says. Although his knowledge of local customs certainly helped, his kindness and tact doubtless played major roles in his hiring.

“People skills are a basic competence,” says Jhadyd. “People have to feel they can trust us, because they often come to see us when they have problems.  Even though helping people can be stressful at times, it’s very motivating. There’s nothing more rewarding than being told by a customer that you’ve saved his or her holiday!”

For more than five years, Jhadyd took care of customers of Nolitours, then Transat Holidays, first as a destination representative, than as destination supervisor in Cayo Coco. In 2006, he totally changed beat and found himself in Montreal as Co-ordinator, then Supervisor, for all destinations in Central and South America, the West Indies excluding Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Even though he had always loved the “climate” at Transat, Montreal’s temperatures somewhat cooled his ardour. But because he gets to visit his destinations regularly, the northern winter seems a bit shorter and less of a hardship.

Neither does Jhadyd have time to get bored. “My work is extremely varied,” he says. “In addition to supervising the destination teams, I oversee budgets and take part in hiring and training representatives.”

Not to mention the management courses he takes at the Transat Academy, a program developed in partnership with Université de Sherbrooke. “It’s amazing to see the importance that Transat attributes to developing its employees’ skills.  The Company is even paying for my courses!”

The first encounter passengers have with Transat when they get to the airport is Allana Haines’ responsibility, and she takes that very seriously. But always with a smile.

As Airport Supervisor for Transat at 10 airports in Ontario and eastern Canada, Allana hires representatives and trains them to deal with departing passengers’ needs, be they simple or complex. She finds a positive approach yields the best results. “Under stressful conditions, you must find ways to defuse the situation,” Allana says. “The key is problem solving. You feel good when a passenger walks away satisfied.”

Toronto-born Allana started her career in travel at the age of 24 as a tour operator, and then started with Transat in 1993. She is based in Toronto, but travels frequently. Besides loving her job “because it changes everyday,” Allana is looking forward to celebrating her 50th birthday on a trip with her husband to Switzerland this year.

The people she deals with everyday at her job are what drive her. The range of challenges facing her and her team can be wide-ranging, to say the least. Passengers may not have the correct documents, may have been overbooked on a flight or may have to be contacted in a foreign country ahead of their departure for “a rescue flight.” This happened with passengers in Cuba during Hurricane Gustav this year.

“Solving such problems can be rough, but it’s got to be done”, Allana says, and each time her colleagues do it; another layer of accomplishment wraps itself around them. “We’re out here at the airport almost on our own so we look out for each other.”  This encourages and promotes teamwork, essential within the airport community.

Now that’s what you call a change of direction! In 1999, after 16 years in the financial world followed by an intensive course in computing, Patrice Laforest is starting a new career as a programmer at Transat Tours Canada.

Today’s travel and tourism industry is being buffeted by technological change. The advent of the Internet is accelerating the development of centralized reservations systems. And so the job of Patrice and his team is to ensure that tour operators like Transat Holidays and Nolitours remain at the leading edge of technology.

That might mean repatriating at Transat Tours Canada systems that were managed by different suppliers or automating price changes — the latter no small task when you consider there are 20 million annually! “The most interesting part of the job is that we deal with a little bit of everything: analysis, development, architecture and even quality control,” Patrice says. “And as Co-ordinator, I also monitor the work.”

Familiarity with computer languages is not enough to ensure the success of these projects; you also have to be highly creative. “We need to be versatile and inventive,” he notes. “Because technologies evolve quickly, you sometimes have to be able to see things differently in order to find the most effective solution.”

It’s not only technologies that are changing. Transat is constantly growing, which means ever-more-complex and stimulating projects for Patrice and his team. “There were 23 employees when I joined the Information Systems department in 1999,” he recalls. “Today we’re more than 200…but what’s great is that the atmosphere is still just as pleasant.”

Each year, nearly half of Vacances Transat (France)’s 130,000 customers visit Canada on packages, stays and tours that Stéphane Michel has been developing since 2005.

When he became Product Manager, he achieved one of the major goals he had set for himself when he embarked on his studies in tourism. But by the time of his appointment, he had learned every facet of the travel organization. “I started as a guide,” he says. “It’s very instructive to see what goes on in the field with the customers.”

Today, his extensive experience helps him choose the hotels, activities and air services that will best meet his customers’ needs and expectations. “Canada is known for its wide-open spaces and friendliness. To interest different kinds of travellers, we’re now trying to highlight other aspects of its personality, like its culture, its historical heritage and its cities.” His greatest challenge? Highlighting all the assets of his destinations in the restricted space of a tourism brochure.

Because he always has an eye open for trends, he visits Canada regularly to check out new activities, such as hiking, which is currently very popular in France, or environmental tourism products, which are increasingly in demand. “I also take advantage of the trips to visit some of the suppliers and to reassure myself of the quality of the services provided.”

Stéphane believes working for a tour operator of Transat’s size holds many advantages. “Besides having access to a variety of resources, the departments all have a great desire to share knowledge. It’s also a company that constantly goes the extra step to convey good values, such as sustainable tourism.”

Martine Olivier has the world’s nicest office. Although it’s only 10 square feet in size, it has an unsurpassed view. “Crossing the Atlantic on a clear, starry night is magic,” exclaims the Airbus 310 pilot, adding: “But what I like most about my work is that it’s never routine.”

Martine has been flying for Air Transat since February 2006, ferrying her passengers to Europe in summer and sun destinations in winter. On one day, she can fly a plane to Rome, then travel to London to pilot another to Vancouver, before returning home to Montreal. A few days break and it is off again to Amsterdam, Paris or Barcelona. 

Not routine, for sure, but “office hours” that can be hard to manage, especially when you are the mother of a five-year-old girl and your spouse is also a pilot. “It’s not easy to manage your sleep with the time difference,” she points out. And when you’ve got some time off while you’re abroad, do you sleep or do some sightseeing? Tough choice!

In the cockpit, Martine is always alert, ready to deal with the unexpected. With her intensive training - a year of flying school, thousands of hours at the controls of Metroliners, Embraers, Boeings and other aircraft, as well as rigorous training on a flight simulator training every six months - she is always poised to handle the most delicate situations...

“At the beginning, I was told it would be hard, that I’d be hassled because I was a woman. But it really didn’t happen. When I enter the cockpit, I’m a pilot. I have work to do and a feeling of mutual respect sets in.” And Martine is no longer alone – today Air Transat has some 10 women among its 350 pilots.

Martine, who served as an Air Transat flight attendant in the 1990s, is very proud of the growth of this Quebec enterprise. “It’s a very established and respected company that offers us a wide variety of vacation destinations. And it’s also very pleasant to be able to speak French in the cockpit!”

Cindy Schell knows what’s really on the table when she sells vacation packages. It’s a lot more than plane tickets, a hotel or even the actual destination, however beautiful that is.

“We’re selling emotions, dreams,” says Cindy, a sales representative for Transat Tours Canada in southern Alberta. Her territory includes 125 travel agencies in the Calgary area, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. That’s lot of people with dreams to realize. “I’m pretty outgoing and I’m eager to get up each day and do my job,” says Cindy, who has been working for Transat for six years. “I enjoy what I sell.”

Cindy, 36, began her career at Sears Travel when she was 21 after graduating from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, where she studied travel and tourism. She knew she wanted to be in travel at 14, when her parents took her on her first “big Europe trip… I just loved seeing how other people lived, the history and the shopping, of course.”

These days people are looking for new destinations to discover. “They’re looking for something more exotic,” Cindy says, adding that sun destinations are always popular and offer great value with the all-inclusive option but that people are also looking for different destinations, and that Spain and Greece are becoming more popular. Her challenge is to continue contributing to the expansion of Transat’s market share in the face of a growing number of competitors who offer low prices but don’t match Transat’s quality.

Michael Schneider was selling medical products with his father’s company in his native Cologne, Germany when he realized he had another calling. “I wanted to change my vision,” Michael, 33, says.

Twenty months later, Michael is Sales Coordinator internal for Air Consultants Europe, based in The Hague, in the Netherlands. The company is Transat’s sole representative for sales of flights and holiday packages to Canada from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

He started as a reservations agent, so Michael knows first-hand about the challenges. The team’s prospects, even in less-than-certain economic times, are excellent, he says. “Canada is a good, solid destination,” Michael explains. “People want to visit Canada and see family members.”

Michael’s job includes strategizing with colleagues on other teams at the office, like accounting, IT and group sales. He also manages information about the client base and market changes and helps to plan clients’ outings in Canada.

“There are a lot of new activities,” he says, about tours and events, so he keeps in close contact with tour operators and Transat’s head office in Canada. “It’s very important that we do our best for our clients,” he adds. “We make sure they have a nice flight, with a special meal if they want, and a nice holiday to Canada.”

One of the ongoing career benefits for Michael is, of course, the travel opportunities. And he has a special place in his heart for Africa, having visited Tunisia and South Africa. “African people are very kind,” he says. “They’re not materialistic. They live with what they have.”

The first time May Ping Tse flew on a jet was from Montreal to Toronto in 1997, shortly after being hired, on her 27th birthday, as an Air Transat flight attendant. She was immediately “hooked.” Now based in Vancouver, she has since flown on thousands of flights serving Europe and sun destinations, providing Air Transat passengers with the top-notch service they have come to expect from the airline.

“I love doing everything possible to make our passengers comfortable and their flights more enjoyable,” May says. “At the same time, I feel very privileged to be able to combine work with travel. It’s the best of both worlds.”

May had been studying sciences with a view to entering medicine when she decided to change course and apply for a “people-oriented” job at Air Transat. “It appealed to me because it was an international and growing company with a great reputation. I’ve never looked back.”

With a strong work ethic instilled by her large Montreal family, May has earned a reputation among colleagues for never resting until her customers are satisfied. “Knowing they’re happy and their needs are taken care of gives me a great sense of pride. This requires always staying alert, being creative and working closely with other team members.”

Since joining Air Transat, May has been able to save enough money to purchase a home. In addition to exploring the world, her work schedule and travel privileges give her frequent opportunities to visit family members back in Eastern Canada. “Family is important to me, both my own and my Air Transat family. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.”