The main responsibility of the Year-Round Travel Rep position is to ensure the smooth arrivals/departures of the Area Team’s participants, including late arrivals and early returns. This entails communicating with AFS-USA staff to coordinate information, recruiting and scheduling airport volunteers, tracking international and domestic flights as booked by AFS partners, assisting students from other teams that transit through the local airport (if applicable), and managing arrival and departure days. The Travel Rep works closely with the Departure and Arrival Orientation Coordinators to convey logistics information to host families for pick-ups and drop-offs. For teams near a larger international airport, this role will also include providing airport support for sending participants departing from/returning to these airports.
Year-round duties for this role include assisting with participant moves across Area Teams, requesting arrival/departure airports, advocating for the through-ticketing model, and corresponding with the Travel Advisory Group on general projects.
Skills/attributes/experiences helpful to volunteers in this role:
- Prior experience as a Travel, Hosting, Orientation, or Support Volunteer
- Well-organized and detail-oriented
- Comfortable with computer-based work and electronic communications such as tracking information in a spreadsheet, sending emails, and texting
- Effective communicator verbally and in writing
- Able to navigate changing circumstances with patience and good humor
- Experience at the airport and with airlines to successfully manage check-ins, delays, and cancellations.
Skills/attributes/experiences volunteers may gain through this role:
- Fun, heart-warming times with AFS Volunteers, participants, host families and staff
- Event-planning skills
- “Behind the scenes” knowledge of exchange program management and logistics
- Satisfaction from a job well done
Required Training
- DoS (Dept. of State) Certification Training (annually)
- HSA (Hosting & Support Affiliation) Training (annually)
- AFS Travel Rep Training (mid-February 2023)