Have you ever been on the road and found yourself in a tough spot? For whatever reason you need to get somewhere as soon as you possibly can, but the powers that be have a different idea? Enter Flight Centre Business Travel.

Sure our expert Travel Managers can make informed recommendations and process your flight and accommodation bookings, but their support doesn't stop there. In fact, they are there to help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Small issues or big problems, the FCBT Travel Managers will do what they can to ensure you're where you need to be when you need to be there, and they've got the stories to prove it:

Murray Thomas

• Role: Assistant Manager
• Location: Brisbane

A client arrived in Tabubil (PNG) on his Charter to find out that his son had been admitted to hospital. After he contacted me directly, I set about finding the best connecting flights from Port Moresby (coordinated with a Charter from Tabubil) to Brisbane. He was soon on his way back to Australia, arriving without issue to be with his family at the hospital.

Melanie Doyle

• Role: Team Leader
• Location: Brisbane

I had a group of 35 that had booked tickets to the US. A few days prior to their flight, an airline strike grounded all domestic and international flights.

My client, who has my mobile number, called me on the Saturday prior to see if I was able to help. 

I confirmed the news then went into the office early the next morning. I was meant to be at an expo but spent the morning rebooking all 35 passengers (all from different cities) on new multi-stop itineraries in four weeks time.

Because I was able to get into the office on Sunday, there was better availability over everyone else who received the news on Monday morning.

Traci McKay

• Role:  Travel Manager
• Location: Perth

I received an call on a Sunday afternoon from my BDM requesting an emergency booking for a prospective client.

I called the client to find out how I could help. I had a pretty panicked Operations Manager on the other end. After speaking with her and calming her down, I learned that one of their travellers had been put in jail in South Africa. They needed two flights to the country to bail him out within a certain time frame.

With no time to lose, I commenced sorting out the two required seats. After many phone calls back and forth over the next three hours, we had arranged and booked two business class tickets to Durban for that night. We ended up getting them to their destination with an hour to spare! 

Pippa Vann

• Role: Manager
• Location: Brisbane

Travel plans across the world were brought to a halt due to the volcanic eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. Fortunately, after a thorough check, none of my clients were affected; however, a lovely English man did walk into the office that day with a bit of a predicament.  

He needed to be back in the UK for his son's wedding. His flight had been cancelled due to the eruption and he was looking for any help to get him back in time for the wedding.

I knew this was going to be a big challenge but I love a good challenge and I love to help people. So I immediately started searching for any ports in the UK/Europe to get him and his wife to their son's wedding. Things were looking pretty grim when all of a sudden some seats opened up. To this day, I think it was a glitch and never should have happened, but I grabbed them and locked in the booking.

I didn't go home until I confirmed the ticket numbers in the booking, making sure the seats didn't get cancelled. The client and his wife were so pleased with my efforts, they remained one of my clients right up until they moved back to the UK.

Briarley Osmond

• Role: Manager
• Location: Brisbane

I was having a fairly typical day when I received an email from a repeat client about his travel plans to Brazil. He was flying the next day and wanted to check that he didn't need a visa to attend a conference that he was the keynote speaker for.

To cut a long story short, he did indeed need a visa, which would be near impossible to get the day prior to flying. The only thing to do was go to the consulate in person and plead the case. The consulate is in Sydney. The client was on the Gold Coast.

With no time to second guess, I arranged all of the necessary paperwork with the client and set off for the airport. Upon arrival in Sydney, I finalised all of the documents at another Flight Centre branch and headed to the Brazilian consulate. I waited my turn before pleading the case on my client's behalf. The answer was no.   

Completely shattered, I started to walk away, but by some improbable stroke of luck, the man called me back and said he would make an exception. I was told to come back after lunch after everything was reviewed. It was an excruciating wait, but I ended up picking up the passport with the visa in it.