Jet Blue Reservations

[sky37d]

I caught the tail end of a network news thing last night, and they were talking about JetBlue's reservations/customer service people all work from home.

Does anyone know if in fact this is correct?? If it is, how do they do that?? I would love to ship our C/S people out of here, making more room for other things.

The fundamental concept is very cool. I have to think that the technology involved is significant.

 

[chperplt]

I have to think that the technology involved is significant.

With a PC and high speed connection, it can easily and affordably be done from home.

 

[Eagleflip]

The boss made a decision prior to opening the doors that our flight reservations folks would be able to work from home. It makes for a flexible, happy work force. Add to that the normal "niceness" of the folks at Salt Lake City (many, many customer service organizations have reps there) and you get a great combination.

How does it work? A master server (or several) is established at our Res Center in SLC. (Yep, there is a center used for initial training and ongoing res work 24/7.) Anyway, those servers tie in to local crewmembers who do the res work from home. The company supplies dedicated phone lines--maybe high speed, I dunno--and computers, and the crewmember has to have a dedicated area free from external noise and distraction.

The at-home folks work a normal schedule and are also sometimes called to help out with surge situations such as the big snow storm we had at JFK a few weeks ago. That flexibility works very well for the company. Once in a while they will have to come down to the Res center to work, but that is the exception rather than the norm, in my understanding.

 

[jarhead]

Yup, it's done all the time now by many industries. Plus, a fringe benefit, ya don't have to wear a neck tie, and ya don't have to shave or get out of your pajamas of you don't want too.

Saves on gasoline and parking fees as well.