Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
Make and confirm reservations for transportation or lodging, or sell transportation tickets. May check baggage and direct passengers to designated concourse, pier, or track; deliver tickets and contact individuals and groups to inform them of package tours; or provide tourists with travel or transportation information.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Persuasion
- Writing
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Public Safety and Security
- Transportation
- Geography
- Psychology
- Foreign Language
What the work involves
- Make and confirm reservations for transportation and accommodations, using telephones, faxes, mail, and computers.
- Prepare customer invoices and accept payment.
- Answer inquiries regarding information, such as schedules, accommodations, procedures, or policies.
- Determine whether space is available on travel dates requested by customers, assigning requested spaces when available.
- Confer with customers to determine their service requirements and travel preferences.
- Contact customers or travel agents to advise them of travel conveyance changes or to confirm reservations.
- Plan routes, itineraries, and accommodation details, and compute fares and fees, using schedules, rate books, and computers.
- Assemble and issue required documentation, such as tickets, travel insurance policies, or itineraries.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Social, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (75.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (57.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (32.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 98% of occupations compared | 99% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 93% of occupations compared | 88% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 64% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 58% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 90% of occupations compared | 75% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 89% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 94% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 70% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.62%
- Constant contact with others: 99.38%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 7.49%
- Fairly important: 1.38%
- Important: 0.62%
- Very important: 2.41%
- Extremely important: 88.1%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 2.77%
- Fairly important: 0.62%
- Important: 13.23%
- Very important: 16.49%
- Extremely important: 66.89%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 2.62%
- Limited freedom: 19.2%
- Some freedom: 48.74%
- A lot of freedom: 29.43%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Time pressure
- Never: 4.77%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 12.12%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.13%
- Every day: 74.98%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Conflict situations
- Never: 11.23%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.32%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.98%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.92%
- Every day: 47.55%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 24.81%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 48.87%
- Every day: 26.32%
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 20.17%
- Fairly serious: 16.98%
- Serious: 9.55%
- Very serious: 3.79%
- Extremely serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 07/2013
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O*NET-SOC 43-4181.00 · SOC 43-4181 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8