This interview is part of our Women in Travel series, highlighting female talent in the travel industry. Entries are currently open for our 2025 awards, enter HERE.
A travel lover from a young age, Alexandra O’Connor was fortunate enough to turn her passion into a career, securing roles with Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and The Travel Corporation. Last month she was appointed head of Sales Channels for Qantas.
With many years’ experience in the industry, Alexandra spoke to Travel Weekly about the importance of mentoring, Qantas’ current focus on supporting advisors, and the strength of female leadership in the industry.
TW: What has been your experience as a woman working within the travel industry?
O’Connor: I feel very very fortunate that in my career I have worked for a range of incredible leaders, both male and female. I have worked for more female leaders and I have never felt a lack of female representation at any level of the industry.
So many senior women in the industry have been incredibly generous with their time and guidance.
I think it is that paying it forward that I have really benefited from. So many senior women in the industry have been incredibly generous with their time and guidance over many years, and so I think there’s a real sense that you want to do that for the people coming after you and continue that generosity of time and knowledge.
I’ve been involved in the TIME (Travel Industry Mentor Experience) program for a long time and I think that’s an incredible mentor program for people in the industry.
At Qantas, we also have a real focus on some cohorts – like pilots and engineers – where there’s a real substantive piece of work going on in terms of, right from school leavers, developing the pipeline for those careers so that we get more gender representation particularly in those underrepresented areas.
TW: What does ‘Reach New Heights’ mean to you?
O’Connor: It is really about harnessing the power of the team to do great work together. I really love that African proverb, “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together”. I think it is that togetherness and that teamwork that embodies our travel industry.
TW: What advice would you give to any women starting their travel career?
O’Connor: I think you couldn’t have a more varied, exciting, energising career. 
I find people to be incredibly generous with their time and knowledge so make use of that: build that sense of community, reach out even if it’s a cold LinkedIn message or an email.
There’s no one I know in the travel industry that wouldn’t give people the time for a coffee.
TW: What do you pride yourself on in your work?
O’Connor: What really ignites me is the ability to deeply listen to our customers, to walk in their shoes and build deep and enduring partnerships for the organisation I work for. That’s something that gives me a lot of pride.
TW: What’s a mistake that you made in your career and what did you learn from it?
O’Connor: Earlier on in my career I would have developed a firm opinion on an issue quite quickly in the piece and become, at times, really fixed in my position. It’s not the best way to work through a complex issue.
One thing I’ve really worked on and feel like I’ve evolved over my now many years of experience is just to take the time, not jump to a fixed position so quickly, but to really understand different perspectives, to let things percolate a little bit more and be more open-minded about the different pathways to getting to solutions.
TW: What goal are you chasing this year?
I have a very fussy-eating seven-year-old, so I just need to learn how to cook some more family meals that everyone will eat.
O’Connor: Professionally, in my team our goal is to really wrap around our agency partners and do what we can to help them through this big distribution change that we’re going through. We’re bringing in a lot more innovation to make sure that the servicing really allows agents to efficiently manage the customer’s needs in the new environment. When agents are sitting in front of customers in the high-pressure environments they’re put into, it’s important that they know Qantas have their back.
Personally, I’ve got a much more mundane goal. I have a very fussy-eating seven-year-old, so I just need to learn how to cook some more family meals that everyone will eat. That’s the truth of it.
TW: What is something that would surprise people about you?
O’Connor: I have real enthusiasm for creative writing and I have done a few writing classes over the years. I actually have the bones of a fiction novel in some sort of shape in my back drawer that one day I might dust off and when I get a bit of time on my hands might finish off.
Entries are now open for the 2025 Women in Travel Awards. Whether you’re putting your name forward or championing a colleague, don’t miss this chance to recognise the women in our industry.
➡️ Nominate/enter now and help elevate the voices that matter.
Thursday, 2 October 2025 – On-time entries close
Thursday, 9 October 2025 – Late entries close
Wednesday, 5 November 2025 – Finalists announced
Wednesday, 3 December 2025 – Awards night
