Executive – Operations Support - Crawley, West Sussex

Salary: Competitive
Location: Location split between home working and working in The VHQ, Crawley, West Sussex.
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time basis (37.5 hours a week) on an annualised hours contract.
Shifts: Mixture of days, evenings and weekend between the hours of:
Monday – Friday 09:00-19:00
Saturday 09:00-18:00
Sunday 10:00-18:00
Closing Date: Friday 20th May 2022
Many of our staff at Virgin work flexibly and in many different ways, including part-time, different core hours or remote working. Please talk to us at your application or interview stage about the flexibility you need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we are happy to explore what's possible for the role.

In a nutshell

At Virgin Atlantic, we’re just as passionate as we’ve always been about becoming the most loved travel company.

Last year was an uncertain year, for us, for everyone. One thing we know for sure – last year has shown that when we combine our brand with the power of amazing people, we make something truly magical.

As an Operations Support Executive, you will provide consistent, specialist support to our customer centre and Retail teams, acting as a help desk offering solutions on both new and existing bookings across the product mix. You will support with the administration of complex booking components and functions.

Day to day

• Provide first level support on aviation and ground related issues and ensure all queries and questions from the business are dealt with effectively through email, phone contact and workplace• Responsible for informing customers of any changes that may impact their holiday as a result of errata or airline schedule changes and ensure every opportunity is taken to retain customers whilst following company and industry guidelines.• Using airline global distribution systems, as well as IATA applications to manage our flight inventory, from booking, to servicing, to refunding any applicable fares & taxes.• Work cross functionally with other teams and departments across the airline group to ensure a seamless end-to-end booking process for our customers.• Liaise and negotiate with 3rd party suppliers or internal departments to resolve any challenges that could impact the customer experience or booking profit for Virgin Holidays.• Maximising revenue at every opportunity, by listening to customers and their needs. This would include upselling where appropriate.• Ensure all other critical back office functions are performed in a timely manner, to minimize any negative customer impact or financial loss to the company:• Own manually booking the out of date range bookings, booking the outbound and inbound failures that have not auto-converted, grabbing the fully booked PNRs into Tbox and all the reporting amends needed to support.• Process daily refunds for prior days cancelled bookings, as per fare rules and current policies.• Work from our Flight Changes management system to process amendment options and updates in a timely manner.• Take ownership to keep updated with all the commercial policies for Vhols, VAA and other airlines that impact the business.• Attending and contributing in team meetings and briefings. Sharing and receiving best practice with colleagues.• Proactively challenge and/or provide feedback and recommendations on process and system improvements that will benefit the rest of the team and business.• Liaise and negotiate with 3rd party suppliers or internal departments to resolve any challenges that could impact the customer experience.

About you

To be successful in this role your need to be an excellent communicator who enjoys influencing and negotiation with a number of key internal departments and international suppliers. You’ll be building our internal customer confidence whilst investigation options and giving effective solutions.

Do you love being kept busy? Do you regularly prioritise your workload to meet the needs of both the business and customer? Due to the demands of the Executive- Operations Support you will be highly dynamic and have experience working with heavy workloads.
Are you confident in your decision-making? Do you regularly make decisions and take personal responsibility for resolving problems without the support of others? This exciting role will require you to make decisions effectively without hesitation.

You will need to have:
•Experience in Customer Service
•Self-motivation, with the ability to confidently work independently
•Ability to learn new systems and be adaptable
•A keen eye for detail
•A sufficient and safe environment to work from home for 60% of your working hours
•Confidence with technology – we will train you in the systems we use, but sound experience in navigating a laptop and the internet is essential.

Covid-19 has presented us with a unique opportunity for our teams to work more dynamically than ever before. So, once social distancing is a thing of the past, our advisors’ people will work 60% of their time at home, 40% in the office at The VHQ, Crawley, West Sussex. As an example, on a 5-day working week, this equates to 3 days at home and 2 days in the office. However, once you are fully developed in role, we are prepared to increase the amount of homeworking if this is your preference.

We know sometimes technology can be temperamental, so one stipulation we do have is that you reside close enough to The VHQ to be able to get to the office and continue your shift if you experience any technical difficulties at home.

Does the above sound like you? If so, we would love for you to apply today!

Be yourself – Our differences make us stronger


Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion or beliefs. We celebrate difference, and everything that makes our colleagues unique, by upholding an inclusive environment in which we can all thrive. So that everyone at Virgin Atlantic can be themselves and know they belong.


To make your journey with us accessible, and individual to you, we encourage you to let us know if you’d like a little extra help with your application, or if you have any individual requirements at any stage along your recruitment journey. We are here to support you, so please reach out to our team, (Recruitment@fly.virgin.com) feeling confident that we’ve got your individual considerations covered.