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‘Workaholic’ agent clinches sale at 36,000ft

A self-confessed “workaholic” agent booked a customer on a cruise while 36,000ft in the air flying on her own holiday.

Gill Williams, of The Cruise Village in Blackpool, was heading to New York with her husband on September 7 to celebrate his 50th birthday when she decided to check her emails mid-flight.

A new customer had emailed Williams asking her to book a seven-night cruise on Azamara Pursuit for a Barcelona sailing to Monte Carlo next April.

Williams immediately logged on to The Cruise Village’s in-house system and Azamara Club Cruises’ booking platform, Airwaves, using British Airways’ onboard Wi-Fi to finalise the cruise for her new client – as her husband watched a film in the seat next to her.

Reflecting on the mid-air booking, Williams, a homeworker for the past four years who won the leisure agent of the year award at Travel Weekly’s Agent Achievement Awards in 2016, said she logged on because she loves her job.

“I have never tried to make a booking mid-flight before,” she said. “But I was absolutely delighted I could get on to all the systems I needed to make the booking while flying over the Atlantic.

“I am a workaholic and all my colleagues think I am crazy.”

Williams said her colleagues laugh at her for always taking her laptop on holiday but she intends to travel with it again when she and her husband sail on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas in October.

Phil Nuttall, director of The Cruise Village, said: “I am very proud of her because she showed innovation and used her time wisely.

“It just shows that when you are away, you can maximise your opportunities – not just on trains or buses but also when you are 36,000ft in the air.

“I have never heard of this happening before.”

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