kiribati From Switzerland, joined Jan 2012, 6 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1742 times:
Hello everyone,
I was wondering whether any of you out there have any ideas on how to translate our passion into a job. Let me be more specific.
Most of us are passionate about aviation, some more in one field, some more in another.
Personally, my passion is finding the best and most convenient air route (not only financially speaking) for friends and aquiantances all around the world. I read airline timetables, I keep up to date with latest routes and special offers, compare booking websites, etc.
But I have always wondered, could I earn a living out of this?
I haven't come up with any ideas yet. The only thing I can think of is saying "ok I will find you the best deal and you pay me so much." But if you had to, say, fly from Strasbourg to Atlanta and back from Vancouver; how much would you pay me if I found you the perfect combination? In other words, how can you sell your competent advice?
sw733 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 6072 posts, RR: 10 Reply 1, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1739 times:
Isn't that just called a "travel agent"? Definitely a common job...
xjramper From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2345 posts, RR: 52 Reply 2, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1721 times:
You could earn a living out of this. Its called a travel agent
charlib52 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 164 posts, RR: 20 Reply 3, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1634 times:
Check out Cranky - he seems to be doing pretty well at it (and his blog is pretty good, too.)
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 14 Reply 4, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1531 times:
I think the problem is that some of us (you and me included) like looking for deals and interesting routings. However, most people aren't remotely interested in such things, and want the quickest, most hassle free option. Knowing that Airline A flies the A380 only on Sundays from A to B, when Mon-Sat is a 737, is of little use/interest to most people.
People that are interested enjoy hunting for that infomation (and posting for help on sites like this) themselves.
something From United Kingdom, joined May 2011, 1633 posts, RR: 24 Reply 6, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1293 times:
I don't want to discourage you, but a.) you'll lose the enthusiasm once you do this in large numbers and have to take responsibility for your bookings (when things get ugly, airline messes things up, flights are canceled etc.). And b.) there are way too many websites that run very efficient filters (cheapest option, direct flight, what airline etc.).
I book 10-20 tickets every months for friends, family and their friends and family and so on. What I do is I ask people to find the lowest fare they can find, present them with the lowest fare I can find, and take half the difference for me, the other half is their saving.
Naturally, not everybody prioritizes low fares over convenience, and not everybody wants to check fares for themselves first. At first I approached these people very timidly, and only ''charged'' the 30 Franken or so that these websites get as a provision (expedia, ebookers, skyscanner etc.) because they will see the actual fare on the eticket. Now I am more demanding and ask for 100 Franken (I converted it for you. You're welcome lol) per booking. Convenience costs money and I find that to be an adequate amount.
But you can't really make a living with it unless you have a credible reputation and are somehow established in the market. To achieve that, you'll have to invest A LOT of money and time first and you'll never know if it'll all work out.
In the end, every business venture has a risk attached to it and if everybody thought like me, the world would be a pretty bleak place. But then again, I think I have a pretty sharp understanding of the business world and know that while I've got plenty ideas, I just don't got what it takes to make it big - IT and programming skills. (Don't even think about outsourcing this. Before you know you've gone through a couple grand, and the programmer has sold your idea to 5 other people in the meanwhile).
So in all honesty.. if this is still what you wanna do, start working at a travel agency, learn from them, see how they do things, open up your own shop, make an okay living.
But this just ain't for me, though I've thought about it more than once. Which is another problem: Competition is fierce
MEA-707 From Netherlands, joined Nov 1999, 4117 posts, RR: 37 Reply 7, posted (1 year 4 months 2 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 1240 times:
Plus, so much can be found online nowadays so your business idea is a shrinking market. There are many websites who compare and search the cheapest possible options.
About 8 years ago I told to a CEO type lady who spent tons flying up and down to Switzerland and England on KLM about easyJet, showed her how to book flights and how much money she could save. She was very enthousiast and said, you should make your job out of this. But the 2nd time she booked herself and told her collegues so even this example would not generate a repeat client.
nobody has ever died from hard work, but why take the risk?
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